In the first round of Rafael dos Anjos versus Colby Covington, at UFC 225, a stream of blood began trickling from behind the former UFC lightweight champion’s left ear. Now, after the dust has settled on RDA’s decision loss to Covington, the extent of the injury he suffered that night has been revealed.
The Brazilian took to Instagram to share a picture of his left ear bearing stitches connecting it back to his head. The titles across the image read “Tough situations build tough people” and “Just had my ear fixed.”
Sources close to the situation spoke to MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz about the injury. They revealed that dos Anjos first suffered a dramatic ear injury during a sparring session with former middleweight champion Michael Bisping in October, 2017 (before dos Anjos faced Robbie Lawler). After that incident dos Anjos had to have his ear stitched back in place five separate times.
Rafael dos Anjos / Instagram
Dos Anjos’ ear was stitched just two weeks before his UFC 225 showdown with Covington. During the fight with Covington, which saw dos Anjos spend a lot of time being smothered against the cage, the ear received even more damage. The ‘deep cut’ behind the ear was so severe that dos Anjos thought there was a chance it could have fallen off during the contest.
After the figh,t dos Anjos and his team decided to have plastic surgery performed on the organ with hopes of preventing further detachments. It is expected that dos Anjos will have his stitches removed in two weeks and he will be cleared to spar in six weeks.
Dos Anjos’ loss to Covington was his first defeat in the welterweight division. Prior to that decision he defeated Lawler, Neil Magny, and Tarec Saffiedine in succession. He is currently ranked number three in the division, behind Darren Till and interim champion Covington.
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