Mixed martial arts – no matter how entertaining – isn’t for the faint of heart. It doesn’t matter if you’re a viewer or the athlete competing inside the cage – true to the UFC’s moniker of ‘As Real As It Gets’ – the sport is as brutal as it gets. And it’s a given, where punches, kicks, elbows, and knees are thrown, blood will be split. And if you’re squeamish, this certainly isn’t the sport for you.

But then, injuries don’t just happen inside the Octagon. Unbeknownst to people who tune in for live events, some gruesome injuries happen outside the cage, as we’ll later see in this article. As viral as fighters get for spectacular moments within the Octagon, certain injuries endured by them also make it to the spotlight. Some of these injuries are stomach-churning, so we suggest you don’t eat anything while reading this article. Now, without further ado, let’s look at five of the most bizarre, and gruesome injuries in the UFC.

Penile Fracture –Mateus Mendonça

Let’s start with something very recent. This particular instance about ex-UFC bantamweight fighter Mateus Mendonca will make you cringe, especially if you’re a dude, so brace for it. The young fighter faced a devastating penile fracture during a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu rolling session. Although experiencing pain at first, he didn’t think much of it, but only realized the severity of the injury a month later when he visited a doctor after experiencing discomfort. The result? Surgery followed by two months of no training.

“It’s a good idea to warn everyone – all the guys who train jiu-jitsu, grappling, MMA, anything that involves contact: wear a cup to avoid accidents. From now on, I can do any training, I won’t train without a cup anymore [laughs]. You have to be careful. It doesn’t hurt, it prevents accidents, it prevents a lot of things.”, said Mendonca to AGFight, in a recent interview.

This moment, despite being gruesome wasn’t without its fair share of laughs and gags from the fight community. But rest assured, an injury like this sends out two clear messages; either train safe or wear protective gear, and visit a doctor if you feel pain. As the saying goes, “Tap to discomfort, not pain.”

Cracked jaw and dislocated teeth – Robert Whittaker at UFC 308

It is pretty hard to forget what happened when Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev clashed at UFC 308. The story if simple; ‘Borz’ took ‘The Reaper’ down, rag-dolled him a bit, took his back, and locked in a nasty face crank. The result? (One of, if not) the fastest tap to a submission in UFC history, and three broken teeth for Whittaker, pushed inward.

The true nature of the injury was only realized by fans when photos of the three dislocated teeth inside Whittaker’s mouth started making the rounds. Dana White seemed to understand what might have happened right after the moment, recalling, “As soon as that happened, I picked up the phone, and I called the truck and I was like, ‘His jaw popped,’”.

Kudos to Robert Whittaker, though, for not trying to tough it out and cause himself further damage. As soon as he felt something was wrong, he tapped. As for his teeth, this is what he said once he recovered from the injury, “I’m alright. It wasn’t like my jaw was broken; the teeth just got pushed in. I’ve always had kind of loose teeth, and they got looser, so yes, it is what it is—part of the sport.”

Exploded Ear – Leslie Smith at UFC 180

Broken bones, broken jaws, broken orbital bones, deep cuts below or near the eyes, or on the eyebrows – fairly common in the sport of mixed martial arts. Exploding ears? That’s new and happened over 10 years ago in a women’s bantamweight bout between Jessica Eye and Leslie Smith at UFC 180. Cauliflower ears are fairly common within training circles, particularly wrestling. Problem is, that the build-up of hard tissue around the soft cartilage of the ears can leave it vulnerable to tearing apart, especially to high-impact blunt force.

The fight was a slug-fest and the moment came in the second round when Eye threw a straight-right at Smith. The result? Her ear exploded with a chunk flying out. The doctors had to stop the fight, with the judges awarding the TKO victory to ‘Evil Eye’.

Speaking to DJ Vlad, Jessica Eye said,  “When I connected and saw her ear blow up, that became my main target. I was going to keep hitting it until they stopped the fight or it fell off”. Reacting to the moment, Mick Foley offered support to Smith through X and wrote, “@mgt_stc: Is Leslie Smith the favorite MMA fighter of @realmickfoley ?” She is now!”. After all, ‘Cactus Jack’ also had his ear ripped off during a match with Vader in WCW back in 1994.

Severe Hematoma – Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 248

Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Weili Zhang put on a battle for the ages at UFC 248 and went the distance in the co-main event bout. Zhang won the bout and retained the title, and the fight was action-packed, but that isn’t only why people remember that fight.

At the end of the bout, Joanna Jedrzejczyk‘s head was twice its size as a result of a hematoma that enlarged during the course of the fight. By the end of it, she looked like a Xenomorph from the ‘Alien’ movie franchise. Some fans even dubbed her ‘Megamind’ after the fight. 

Thankfully she did not suffer any permanent damage and was discharged from the hospital not too long after the fight. While speaking to TMZ Sports she brushed off the brutal injury saying, “It’s more on my face and like, my neck. It’s going down, but it’s much better. I scheduled surgery in Poland with the best plastic surgeon, so it’s all good. On Monday, I’ll have a small medical procedure on my ear and the swelling will go down and I will be ready to rock and roll.”

Groin Injury – Bryce Mitchell

This one’s a hard one to relay, as we’ve saved the worst one for last. Also, this one’s pretty gruesome, so buckle up. Bryce Mitchell once told us a story that would make any man’s stomach churn. Back in 2018, ‘Thug Nasty’ took to social media to share a pretty bizarre incident that took place while doing some carpentry. He had a power drill in his pocket which was pointed directly at his babymakers when it accidentally switched on. The result? A devastating injury to his groin and sensitive bits. He was pretty graphic while describing it, but thankfully didn’t share any pictures.

The Arkansas native is fine now, and so are his bits, evident by the fact that he welcomed his son, Tucker Mitchell, into the world this year. That story with the power drill is pretty wild, but interestingly, ‘Thug Nasty’ came back six months after the incident to fight and won against Matt Sayles at UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Rozenstruik.

Mitchell’s is a cautionary tale, and so is Mateus Mendonca’s. Since this is mixed martial arts, which is an already dangerous sport, fighters need to constantly be in self-preservation mode and not risk their professional careers being derailed due to accidents they can avoid. Regardless, what do you think of these gruesome injuries? Did you manage to make it this far into the article? Let us know in the comments down below.