Fighting is a dangerous sport, and it often gets a little messy. Sometimes, it gets very messy. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane to look at the bloodiest fights from the UFC archives, along with some more recent matches that give them a run for their money.
Joe Stevenson vs Yves Edwards
This isn’t the only time we’ll be seeing Stevenson on this list. This fight was called off in the third round because there was just too much blood. It was everywhere. The fight actually continued for a while after Edwards landed some devastating elbows that tore open Stevenson’s head, but going into the 3rd round the refs and doctors had seen enough.
Mark Hunt vs Bigfoot Silva
This fight was an all-out war that ended as a draw when neither heavyweight was able to put the lid on the other’s casket. Later it was revealed that Silva had failed a drug test, but the fight is still in the record books as a majority draw rather than being overturned to a no contest. This is a rematch that needs to happen.
Chris Lytle vs Josh Koscheck
Chris Lytle painted the town red this night, he even managed to turn Koscheck’s stupid blonde hair to a shade of pink. Here’s how Rogan described the fight during his commentary:
“Oh man…oh, it’s just wide open now. Oh man, he is pouring blood right now. This is a bloody mess.”
Randy Couture vs Gabriel Gonzaga
Couture was still the champ at this point, and Gonzaga was a hungry 8-1 heavyweight who was fresh off of his head kick knockout of Cro-Cop (when we “Cro-Copped Cro-Cop”), but Couture wanted to prove that he was still the man and Gonzaga wasn’t the world-beater everyone was making him out to be. This was a hard-fought battle and the bloodstains are there to prove it.
Jim Miller vs Joe Lauzon
Miller and Lauzon are two guys that are no strangers to heart, and putting on epic battles, so when they crossed paths everybody knew it would going to be something special. And it was. It was one of the bloodiest, toughest battles in UFC history. This fight was chosen as Fight of the Year in 2012.
Renato Sobral vs David Heath
Babalu was cut from the UFC after this fight, because he held in his choke on Heath for an extra couple of seconds. Instead of apologizing, saying it was the heat of the moment, and all of the other classic excuses that can get you off the hook, he said that his opponent “needed to learn respect.” There was some trash talk exchanged before the match, and Sobral was willing to give up his UFC career for it.
Cain Velasquez vs Antonio Silva
Cain laid a beating on Silva in their second fight. The first time they crossed paths, Cain had just lost his belt to JDS and was looking to bounce back. Both fights ended in a first round KO, relatively quickly too, so its incredible that Cain was able to draw so much blood in such a short time. That’s what hunger will do.
Jonathan Goulet vs Jay Hieron
This one was absolutely nasty. Not a ton of hurt in the first round, but the second round has been dubbed one of the bloodiest rounds in MMA history. Goulet landed a nasty knee to Hieron’s head and opened things right up, until this fight was ultimately stopped in the 3rd.
Sean Sherk vs Kenny Florian
This fight was for the vacant lightweight belt and it was a great back-and-forth battle between two determined fighters. After 5 full rounds, Sherk was crowned champ in this Fight of the Night.
BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson
This marks Joe’s second appearance on this list. With most of your blood on the mat, and BJ Penn behind you with his arm around your neck, is one of the last places anybody would want to be on earth. This is the fight where BJ Penn licked the blood off his gloves after the fight, which had Rory MacDonald thinking “Why the fuck do these guys call ME a psycho?!”
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