Brahimaj Releases Statement After Nearly Losing An Ear At UFC Vegas 13

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

After a tumor behind his eye delayed things for over a year, Ramiz Brahimaj made his long awaited debut on Saturday night at UFC Vegas 13.

Unfortunately for him, things did not go as planned for the highly touted prospect. The IBJJF NoGi world champion and owner of 7 first round submission wins was simply unable to take his opponent Max Griffin down. Actually, that doesn’t really do the situation justice: Griffin was so elusive and tricky that Brahimaj never even came close to getting a decent hold on the dude.

Then, down two rounds coming into the third, Brahimaj took a big elbow to the side of the head. Out of nowhere, his ear basically ripped halfway off his head, sending blood everywhere. Max Griffin backed off exclaiming “Hell no! Hell no!” and the ref waved the fight off as Brahimaj looked around in confusion.

The UFC and ESPN obviously didn’t blast that lovely video clip out on all their socials. But UFC president Dana White did share this gnarly photo of Ramiz’s ear:

If you want a better look at what happened, here’s some grainy horrorshow footage of the incident:

Fortunately, Ramiz Brahimaj sounds like he’s perfectly fine and even joked around about the situation in a statement posted on Instagram.

“Hello everyone! I am fine! Tis but a flesh wound!” Brahimaj wrote. “On a serious note congratulations to my opponent fought a great fight and am truly happy to share the cage with him and best of luck to him. I will heal up, and get right back on track. From the soul I appreciate all the support I have gotten from all over!! Set backs are nothing new to me so they will only make me stronger. Much love y’all, see you soon. Praise be to God always.”

Anyone know how long it takes for an ear to re-attach itself firmly to your head?