Fair warning that this article is certainly not for the faint-of-heart as we wade into the fight archives and emerge with the 20 biggest bloodbaths in UFC history.

Stefan Struve vs. Denis Stojnic

“My god, this is a horror movie, man! This is crazy!” Joe Rogan exclaimed uring Stefan Struve’s fight with Denis Stojnic at UFC 99 in 2009.

During the first round, Stojnic landed an elbow that opened up a large gash high on Struve’s forehead and quickly started pouring out copious amounts of crimson, leading to Rogan believing the fight was going to be waved off.

Much to his surprise it wasn’t, and that led to a second round that was even more bloody than the first as Struve took Stojnic’s back and worked hard for a rear-naked choke finish, while blood was seen spraying out of his head and splattering onto the canvas.

“We gotta get this fight over with before Struve bleeds to death!” Rogan exclaimed, and thankfully, Struve did finally manage to eventually complete the blood-soaked choke to claim a memorable victory against the odds.

BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson

In the prime of his career, BJ Penn looked to defend his lightweight title against Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson, and in the first round he landed a perfect elbow to the forehead that opened up a grizzly gash that opened the floodgates for a river of blood.

“That is one of the quickest bleeding cuts I think I’ve ever seen,” Joe Rogan observed from his vantage point. “That’s like a broken fire hydrant.”

Inbetween rounds Stevenson’s corner frantically tried to get the cut under control, but it began leaking again almost immediately.

Penn showed no mery and continued to maul the blood-soaked Stevenson on the mat, before finally getting him in a rear-naked choke and forcing the submission.

In a final macabre moment, ‘The Prodigy’ then proceeded to lick his bloody gloves as he celebrated his victory.

Jim Miller vs. Joe Lauzon

In the opening round of their fight at UFC 155 in late 2012, Jim Miller unleashed a ferocious series of elbows that opened a big cut on Joe Lauzon’s forehead, and it almost immediately left his face soaked in blood.

“It was like standing in the shower and blood was just flowing over my face,” Lauzon recalled years later.

Remarkably, despite the amount of crimson being spilled, Lauzon never showed any sign of quitting as he and Miller continued to go to war for the entire 15 minutes, leaving the Octagon covered with large quantities of his blood.

Though Lauzon would lose out by unanimous decision, he would not only earn ‘Fight Of The Night’ honors, but also received an extra gift from Dana White – the entire blood-soaked canvas from the event as a momento for participating in one of the goriest fights in UFC history.

Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald

The welterweight title fight between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 was an unforgettable five round war, but 2015’s ‘Fight Of The Year’ took a huge toll on both men.

Lawler’s notoriously heavy hands broke MacDonald’s nose in the first round and blood would continually flow from it for the rest of the fight, while continuing to get further damaged.

It would become so bad that by the fifth round another blow to the bloodied pulp that was his nose finally took the fight out of him and ended the contest.

MacDonald has continued to be plagued by issues with his nose ever since.

Lawler didn’t come away from the battle unscathed either though and did his part to paint the Octagon red when MacDonald severed his top lip in two.

Dana White would state afterwards that the sight of ‘Ruthless’ talking post-fight and only one part of his lip moving was one of the grossest things he’d ever seen.

Jeremy Stephens vs. Estevan Payan

Jeremy Stephens marked his arrival in the featherweight division at UFC 160 by painting the Octagon red with Estevan Payan’s blood.

Stephens mauled Payan in the opening round against the cage and opened up a bad cut on his forehead, then reopened it early in the second.

By the end of that round the mat beneath Payan was bathed in blood as Stephens took his back and looked for a submission finish.

There was more of the same in the final five minutes and Stephens was left soaked in Payan’s blood, physically cringing at one point as his opponent’s blood leaked into his own ear.

“This is not the fight you want to show your girlfriend to talk her into watching MMA,” Joe Rogan quipped.

Renato Sobral vs. David Heath

A sustained ground and pound assault from Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral quickly left David Heath drenched in blood at UFC 74 in 2007.

“Wow, look at that splatter man, that is a nasty cut!” Joe Rogan exclaimed as blood sprayed onto the mat from a wound to Heath’s forehead.

“If you saw that in a movie you’d be like, ‘that’s too much blood.'”

Eventually Sobral caught Heath in an anaconda choke, sending more blood leaking out of the cut as he squeezed tight on the submission to force the tapout.

Ironically there had been “bad blood” between the two pre-fight and that led to Sobral holding onto the choke even after the referee stoppage until Heath passed out, which would lead to ‘Babalu’ being banned from the UFC for life.

Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann

Diego Sanchez is no stranger to bloody battles, such as the time he fought Martin Kampmann at welterweight in 2011.

Sanchez was dropped by a straight right in the opening round and blasted with big knees, which left blood spilling from his mouth, then his nose, and by the end of that five minute spell it covered his whole face.

The blood-letting only seemed to fuel Sanchez though and in the second round it was Kampmann who was also contributing his own blood to the grizzly scene courtesy of a cut to his eye, but Sanchez was still getting the worst of it as a wound had now opened up under and above his right eye too.

Sanchez’s face continued to be sliced up in the third, sporting a nasty gash under his left eye for good measure, but despite being drenched in blood he’d go on to claim a unanimous decision victory.

Sanchez would later proclaim the fight to be “the bloodiest in UFC history.”

Gunnar Nelson vs. Alex Oliveira

In the history of the UFC, perhaps never has so much blood been shed so quicly as the night Gunnar Nelson fought Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira at UFC 231 in 2018.

Late in the second round of the fight Nelson got on top of Oliveira, moved to full mount and blasted him with a huge elbow that sliced open a nasty v-shaped cut on his forehead.

The result of this blow was horrifying as blood came flooding out of Oliveira’s head at a terrifying rate, leaving ‘Cowboy’ practically unrecognisable under his crimson mask.

Nelson meanwhile quickly transitioned to a rear-naked choke, and with blood now literally shooting out of Oliveira’s head, the Brazilian tapped out in alarm as much as due to the choke.

“The problem was all that blood,” Oliveira told MMA Fighting after receiving 29 stitches backstage. “When I put my hand on my forehead I felt everything was f***ing open, I couldn’t see anything.”

Cain Velasquez vs. Bigfoot Silva

As one of the biggest heavyweights in the division, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva’s giant frame is like a walking blood bank, and at UFC 146 in 2012, Cain Velasquez seemed intent on making him spill every last drop of it onto the canvas.

Barely 90 seconds into the fight, Velasquez already had Silva wearing a crimson mask courtesy of vicious ground and pound and the referee soon stopped the action so a doctor could check on the Brazilian.

The fight started again and Velasquez resumed the one-sided beating on the mat, leaving the center of the Octagon with so many blood splatters it looked like the scene of a violent homocide by the time the ref finally took pity on Silva and waved off the fight.

Joe Soto vs. Rani Yahya

A clash of heads in the second round of the fight between Joe Soto and Rani Yahya at UFC Fight Night 106 led to a grizzly scene inside the Octagon.

Soto had leaned in to throw a punch just as Yahya moved in for a takedown and that resulted in Soto suffering a nasty cut high up on his head and it gushed as the fight proceeded, leaving both men caked in crimson.

“I felt the cut right away, then I seen the blood pour out,” Soto told FanSided afterwards. “I knew it was bad right away.”

Soto did his best to ignore the cut, which he described as feeling like, “water all over my face,” and was rewarded for his toughness as he went on to claim a unanimous decision victory.

Jonathan Goulet vs. Jay Heiron

“I can’t believe this fight is being allowed to go on with all this blood!” Joe Rogan exclaimed as Jonathan Goulet fought Jay Heiron at UFC Fight Night 2 in 2005.

A single knee had split Heiron’s forehead open and though he instantly waved Goulet on, he was soon covered in his own blood, and so was his opponent.

Legendary boxing and MMA cutman ‘Stitch’ Duran later declared it to be the worst cut he’s ever personally dealt with.

“So I’m plugging it up with adrenaline chloride, which is used to restrict the blood vessels. And I know I’m in real trouble.” Duran recalled to MMAjunkieRadio. “I’ll mix up Vaseline with adrenaline chloride, and I covered the cut, and as soon as I covered the cut, it leaked right through.”

Duran recalls both fighters being left covered head to toe prior to the referee finally calling an end to the fight in the third round due to the cut, handing Goulet the TKO victory.

Edwin Dewees vs. Gideon Ray

In the quarter-finals of TUF Season 4, former UFC fighters Edwin Dewees and Gideon Ray battled to fight their way back into the promotion, and Dewees will to win in particular was on full display that night.

From his back, Ray managed to land a big elbow and it sliced Dewees open badly and immediately started pouring blood out as if someone had just turned on a tap.

At one point Dewees attempted to stop the flow by putting one hand on the wound, while continuing his ground and pound assault with the other.

The blood loss was frightening, but afterwards Dana White praised Dewees for his professionalism and never losing his cool as he refused to quit and went on to win by unanimous decision.

Sean Sherk vs. Kenny Florian

Just six fights into his UFC career in 2006, Kenny Florian fought the far more experienced Sean Sherk for the vacant lightweight title.

Despite spending much of the fight being outwrestled on the mat, Florian gave Sherk all he could handle by constantly attacking from his back, and his elbow strikes led to Sherk getting cut and bleeding prefusely.

Sherk went on to soak himself, Florian and the mat in blood, but would still fight on to a unanimous decision victory.

“There was so much blood in the cage that night from him,” Florian told BleacherReport years later. “Literally, it was the next day, and I had already taken two or three showers—the next day I still found blood in my ear, outside my ear. I found it inside, like rolled up in my eyelids.”

Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva

Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva went to war at UFC Fight Night 33 in 2013 in not only one of the bloodiest, but also best heavyweight slugfests ever seen in the Octagon.

Both men continually landed huge shots and rocked each other during the fight, with hunt being the first to draw blood when he split Silva’s guard with a powerful straight right in the third round and dropped him, leaving blood flowing from his nose afterwards.

Hunt was cut open in the following round when Silva blasted him with thunderous ground and pound elbows that  left his forehead splattered with blood, and it wouldn’t be long before ‘The Super Samoan’s’ trademark bleached blonde hair was soaked red.

Back on the feet Hunt was throwing standing elbows with reckless abandon and that sliced and diced Silva’s head to the extent that his face disappeared under a torrential downpour of blood, though the action was then allowed to continue to it’s bloody conclusion – a majority draw ruling from the judges.

Mike Perry vs. Paul Felder

There was all kinds of damage being dished out during the 15 minute scrap between Mike Perry and Paul Felder at UFC 226, and it was Felder who was taking the worst of it.

Felder broke his forearm in the first round attempting a spinning backfist, but that didn’t stop him, nor did a bad cut above his right eye from a Perry left hook in the second that dispensed blood rapidly and would lead to a doctor checking on him.

Perry had his cuts to deal with too, sporting one on the bridge of his nose and to the lip.

However, by the end of the fight, which Perry won by split decision, Felder was far worse off and in addition to the broken arm and a hematoma on his forehead would also require six stiches to the original eye laceration and 5 stitches to another on his head, while he also refused more stitches to a cut on the inside of his lip.

Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant

We couldn’t do this list without at least including one female fight and the sight of  a bloodied Paige VanZant looking like a victim in a slasher movie against Rose Namajunas at UFC Fight Night 80 certainly stands out.

PVZ was overmatched in the fight, but beneath her cover-girl looks lies a gritty competitor, so when Namajunas’s pinpoint accurate strikes opened up a cut on her cheek in the opening round, the 21-year-old didn’t let it phase her.

Blood from that cut would continue to plague VanZant all fight long and by the fourth round her face was slick enough with it that Namajunas was able to slide her arm under her chin to secure a rear-naked choke finish.

“The blood completely filled my ears,” VanZant told Ariel Helwani some time after the fight. “I was cleaning blood out of my ears for three weeks after the fight. So I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t see anything. No excuses. But yeah…a lot of blood.”

Joe Stevenson vs. Yves Edwards

Legendary referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy has  gone on record that the fight between Joe Stevenson and Yves Edwards at UFC 61 was the bloodiest he’s ever officiated.

The damage was caused by just a single elbow on the mat in the second round when Edwards tried to sit up just as Stevenson threw the strike, which actually only caused a one inch laceration high on his head. The problem was that in the process it also opened up a vein, which resulted in his blood escaping at a disturbing rate.

“After thirty seconds the canvas had a stain like a crime scene,” McCarthy recalled in his ‘Get It On’ book, while both fighters were also covered in it too.

McCarthy called in the cageside doctor to check the cut, but thought the fight was allowed to continue at that stage, just a minute later when they returned to their stools the doctor declared Edwards could not continue, informing the ref that if Edwards continued to bleed for much longer he’d require a blood transfusion.

Chris Lytle vs. Josh Koscheck

Fans got a graphic taste of just how gruesome the fight between Chris Lytle and Josh Koscheck was at UFC 86 when blood started splattering onto the camera lens.

it was Koscheck’s punishing elbows on the mat that had initially opened up a nasty cut above lytle’s right eye and he would continue to target that wound with more blows as the fight progressed, leaving large stomach-churning trails of blood on the Octagon floor.

At one point Koscheck actually looked at the referee in surprise that he wasn’t stopping the fight, but lytle showed no signs of giving up, even though he admitted later that his legs felt weakened.

Lytle would go onto endure more punishment in the final five minutes, but while masked in blood fought back strongly in the final minutes as the crowd chanted his name, though ultimately lost out by unanimous decision.

Abe Wagner vs. Jon Madsen

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 kicked off with a heavyweight battle between Abe Wagner and Jon Madsen that Dana White would claim at the time to be the bloodiest fight in the history of the reality show.

Wagner’s porous takedown defense would be exploited early and often in their fight as Madsen took him to the mat and badly beat him him up with ground and pound punches and elbows.

Under that sustained onslaught Wagner suffered a particularly nasty cut that leaked bucket loads of blood onto the TUF mat.

Wagner continued to get beaten up until the end of the fight, where an EMT then confirmed that he hadn’t fractured his skull without needing an x-ray due to the bone being clearly visible courtesy of the cavernous cut.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar

Stephan Bonnar is no stranger to bleeding and so it was no surprise to see blood leaking from his nose as early as the first round in his fight with Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 110.

It was a hard fought battle as the two men slugged it out, but in the third round following an exchange at close range blood began flowing from Bonnar’s forehead at an alarming rate and the the fight was waved off due to the cut being too deep to allow the fight to continue.

Subsequent replays showed that an accidental clash of heads had caused the cut, but the official ruling was a TKO victory for Soszynski, even after Bonnar attempted to appeal the decision.

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