Photo: Rafa García suffers cut artery in win at UFC Vegas 66, was bleeding for hours

Rafa García required extra attention from the UFC medical staff following his win at UFC Vegas 66 on Saturday.

García faced some serious adversity against Hayisaer Maheshate, as the UFC veteran suffered a gruesome cut in the second round, courtesy of a well-timed elbow from his opponent. As soon as it connected, ‘Gifted’ poured blood out of the side of his head and onto the Octagon, which went from white to red in an instant. And it showed no sign of slowing down.

Though he lost an excessive amount of blood, García stayed focused and used his wrestling to ground Maheshate in the second and third rounds, and that was enough for a unanimous decision. Following his win, García was brought backstage to get stitched up, which took longer than expected.

Why? According to his coach, fellow UFC veteran Cub Swanson, García was cut on an artery. OUCH!

Warning: Photos and video below are graphic. Please proceed with caution.

“Rafa García had a cut artery on his head,” wrote Swanson on Twitter. “It took the UFC medical staff almost two hours to get it to stop bleeding. He is OK now.”

If you were unmoved by those pictures, here is a video of García still leaking like a faucet, despite having a significant amount of gauze on his head.

“The UFC medical team did a great job getting this thing fixed up,” wrote Swanson.

García made it to his post-fight press conference, where he revealed he needed 15 (!) stitches to close the cut.

“I haven’t really gotten stitches,” said García (video provided by MMA Junkie). “Every time I get a little cut, they probably just glue it and that’s about it.”

That is one hell of a way to get your first set of stitches.