UFC women’s bantamweight Leslie Smith suffered one of the most disturbing injuries in MMA history at UFC 180 Saturday night, when an ill-fated punch to her cauliflower-stricken left ear caused it to explode.
While the injury looked absolutely awful in real time, per Fox Sports, the post-fight photo is arguably even worse, as a Sqor Sports post (warning: very graphic image) from Smith features her ear—gaping, bloody hole and all. It’s certainly not for the weak of heart.
She wrote on Sqor:
I was pretty mad in the cage. I saw some pictures afterward and I appreciate the doctors looking out for me. I guess. I should’ve adjusted to protect my ear before the doctors had to stop it … Thank you to my team and my coaches at El Nino Training Center for getting me ready. Thank you to all the fight fans. I’ll do better next time.
Despite Smith insisting that she could have continued, the cageside doctor understandably waved off the fight after the former Invicta FC flyweight title challenger’s ear was gushing blood early in the second frame.
Legendary WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley, best known for his Cactus Jack and Mankind personas inside the wrestling ring, lost a significant portion of his ear during a botched move back in March 1994.
Foley, an MMA fan, reached out to Smith on Twitter early Sunday morning to show his support for her warrior spirit. (Warning: The accompanying image detailing the two competitors’ injured ears is, once again, pretty graphic.)
With the defeat, Smith is now just 2-4 in her past six contests and has only a 1-2 ledger since making her UFC debut in April.
Meanwhile, Eye earned her first victory in 13 months; she has just a 1-1(1) mark in her past three fights.
However, her split-decision loss to Alexis Smith at UFC 170 in February was generally viewed as a poor judges’ decision and was just the second loss of her 14-fight career.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com