In the spirit of Halloween festivities, what better way to celebrate horror with pint-size amounts of blood? The sport of mixed martial arts is no stranger to bloodbaths. It is certainly not the most important facet in a fight and does not really draw fans closer to the sport. After seeing these fights, it would make the most dedicated diehard queasy.
Here’s a list of the top ten bloodiest fights in UFC history:
No.10 JON KOPPENHAVER VS. JARED ROLLINS (TUF FINALE 6)
Good old War Machine. Before Koppenhaver went legit batshit crazy, he gave the UFC fans one of the most entertaining fights with Jared Rollins. This back and forth scrap saw War Machine get cut on the top of his scalp, courtesy of Rollins’ 12-6 elbows. The corner did a good job of cleaning up Koppenhaver so it did not look that serious. He was pretty messy by the end of the first round, with the redness out in full force pouring down his face.
No.9 CAIN VELASQUEZ VS. ANTONIO “BIGFOOT” SILVA (UFC 146)
This fight lasted all but one round in which Cain Velasquez laid into “Bigfoot” Silva with some brutal ground and pound. After landing a takedown on Silva a few seconds into the fight, Velasquez proceeded to lay big punches on his opponent. Still on top of Silva, Velasquez landed a nasty elbow that split open a huge cut on “Bigfoot”, which was eventually the demise of the Brazilian.
No.8 RENATO SOBRAL VS. DAVID HEATH (UFC 74)
This was one of the most disturbing fights ever in the UFC. Not because of the grotesqueness of it (because we’ve lived through Corey Hill and Minotauro Nogueira). Bleeding from the nose from a left hook combined with an elbow slicer from “Babalu”, Heath was literally a bloody mess. As Sobral held onto a choke he applied on Heath, he forced Heath to go out after Heath tapped out, making this one of the most unfortunate moments in the UFC. Blood was raining down on the victor’s forearms, making it that more excruciating to watch.
No.7 STEFAN STRUVE VS. DENIS STOJNIC (UFC 99)
This was arguably the fight that put Stefan Struve on the map. Coming back from behind and more or less losing the entire fight, Struve was split open by Stojnic’s elbow and hammer fists. Being on his back for most of the fight, he gained momentum on an exhausted Stojnic and submitted him with a rear-naked choke. As Struve applied the submission, his face was drenched in blood and the Octagon looked as if there was a Ketchup explosion that surrounded the grounded fighters.
No.6 FORREST GRIFFIN VS. STEPHAN BONNAR (TUF FINALE 1)
The most important fight in the history of the UFC was simply fun and pleasant to watch (if you’re as sadistic as this writer). This was one of the few times where blood didn’t matter; in a sense where both fighters did not stop the pace for a second and the blood looked like the icing on the cake to a perfect moment for the sport of MMA. Both fighters bleeding from having perhaps the greatest fight in our sport would have made grown men cry that day worse than a teenage girl through Beatlemania.