UFC fan favourite Stephen Thompson suffered two horrific cuts in his welterweight showdown with Kevin Holland – which required multiple stitches.
The former 170lb title challenger locked horns with Holland in the penultimate Fight Night card of the year in Orlando early on Sunday morning.
Wonderboy ended up winning the 'Fight of the Year' contender via fourth-round TKO after Holland's corner deemed he'd taken enough punishment.
But he had to battle through major adversity in the first round after being wobbled by a big right hand.
Holland sensed blood and landed a series of slicing elbows that caused nasty gashes on the forehead and above the left eye of Wonderboy.
Thompson survived the ensuing storm and went to work in the ensuing rounds to earn a much-needed victory – which snapped a two-fight skid.
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The 39-year-old, unsurprisingly, needed medical treatment after the gruelling war.
Thompson's brother-in-law, former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, recorded him being stitched up by doctors and shared it on Instagram.
Thompson was all smiles as the doctors sewed him back up and sent a message to his legion of followers on social media shortly afterwards.
He said: "What's up guys, I've been looking through my social media and I've seen all the comments, all the love.
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He said: "I want to thank you guys so much, I appreciate it.
"I'm a little banged up, but I'm feeling good.
"Thank you to Kevin Holland for everything, my brother. It was a war and I appreciate it.
"We got 'Fight of the Night', baby. Let's go. See y'all soon."
In the post-fight press conference, Thompson told the UFC brass: “If you guys want more fights like that, give me a striker, baby.
"Give me a striker.
"Of course, I’m always looking for the title and that’s always at the top of the list, but why not have some fun fights on the way?”
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