UFC Vegas 66: Bloody brawl ends with Rafa Garcia needing 15 stitches for cut artery
Rafa Garcia survived what may very well be the bloodiest UFC bout in recent memory.
Garcia beat Hayisaer Maheshate on Saturday night in the undercard of UFC Vegas 66 via unanimous decision. Yet in the middle of that bout, Garcia took a huge elbow to the head — which resulted in a cut artery and a ridiculous amount of blood.
Thankfully, Garcia is OK.
In the second round of their fight, Maheshate drilled Garcia in the side of his head with an elbow — which sliced it open and cut an artery in Garcia’s head. That sent blood spilling out instantly onto the mat and all over both fighters.
Garcia kept fighting and wound up winning, but his head was bleeding the rest of the way. In total, it took 15 stitches and nearly two hours to get Garcia’s head to stop bleeding.
Here’s video of the hit to Garcia’s head and a photo of the aftermath, but be warned. The images are gruesome and there is a lot of blood.
The elbow that caused Garcia's cut 😬 #UFCVegas66 pic.twitter.com/SPPdC1giLv
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 17, 2022
Rafa Garcia had a cut artery on his head. It took the UFC medical staff almost two hours to get it to stop bleeding. He is ok now 🙏🏽 #UFCVegas66 pic.twitter.com/YoIv6cjzBi
— Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) December 18, 2022
Rafa Garcia's teammate Cub Swanson provides an update 😳 #UFCVegas66 pic.twitter.com/1SqoVB4nk9
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) December 18, 2022
The win brings Garcia to 15-3-0 overall, and marks his third win in four bouts. He last fought in July, when he fell to Drakkar Klose via unanimous decision.
The injury itself isn’t the worst the UFC has seen in recent years by any means. The amount of blood that came out of Garcia’s head in the process, however, is almost certainly unmatched.
