Countless headlines were made at the ‘once in a lifetime’ PPV event at The Sphere last weekend, but none were gorier and more gruesome than the horrific cut suffered by Mexican star Irene Aldana in her clash with Norma Dumont.
Luckily, the fan-favorite striker is on the road to recovery and has just shared a series of images showing how the grizzly injury is healing up nicely.
Warning: The article contains images of a particularly gruesome cut and as such, reader discretion is advised.
Irene Aldana shows off the scar from the horrific cut sustained at Noche
In the final bout of the UFC 306 prelims, Irene Aldana and Norma Dumont went to war in one of the best (and certainly bloodiest) women’s MMA fights of the entire year.
Whilst Dumont was able to get the better of Aldana on the feet, the most significant strike of the contest was a clash of heads that opened up an enormous gash on the forehead of the Mexican star, several inches wide and incredibly deep.
Bloody started to pour from the wound almost immediately but it wasn’t only when the UFC cameras zoomed into Aldana between rounds that fans got a sense of how truly terrible the cut was.
Following the cut, Aldana’s head and face were stitched back together by Dr Greg Hsu, a physician who has been working with the UFC for almost two decades.
Dr Hsu shared a now-deleted video of his initial examination of the cut to his Instagram with the caption “[Aldana] such a strong & courageous human. What a superstar. Godspeed in healing! Thanks for putting up with my Spanish. So honored to have helped.”
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Now, two weeks removed from the horrific cut sustained at UFC 306, Aldana has shared a series of images to her own Instagram showing how the injury is healing up.
The first video shows the swelling around the eye has subsided, although Aldana did cover most of the injury with a beanie.
Yet was the second post that showed the healing process in full, with fellow UFC star Uriah Hall commenting on the post, “Damn that’s a fast heal.”
UFC champion Shevchenko hails Irene Aldana for her toughness
Only a few hours after Aldana went to war with Dumont, Valentina Shevchenko re-captured flyweight gold from Alexa Grasso in the co-main event of the evening.
Speaking to MMA Today after the event, Shevchenko would hail Aldana as one of the toughest fighters in the entire sport – and it’s not difficult to see why.
“Oh my god! During my warmup, I saw there was a cut but I tried not to be so much into what happens before my fight. After, I saw on the internet an update how it was during the fight, after the fight, how many stitches they put on her face… It’s something that’s definitely very, very scary.”
“The only thing that I want to say about Irene is that she has some big heart,” noted the returning UFC champion: “She has so much like desire and she never stopped going forward.
“She understood that it’s affecting the opinion of judges and everything, but she keep moving forward. She was like, ‘No, I want it. It’s mine.’ She was fighting until the end. I win or I die.”
Bloody Elbow wishes Aldana a speedy recovery.
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