UFC lightweight Rafa Garcia lost a staggering 20 PER CENT of his blood after suffering a horrific cut in his clash with Hayisaer Maheshate.
The pair collided in a catchweight bout on Saturday night on the final UFC card of 2022 in Las Vegas.
Garcia came out of the UFC Vegas 66 contest victorious but was left a bloody mess thanks to a cut artery on the side of his head – which came courtesy of a second-round elbow.
The 28-year-old’s wound was so bad he bled for TWO HOURS straight – which resulted in him nearly losing a quarter of his blood.
The Californian said: “They told me I lost 20 per cent of my blood.
“I got a cut artery. They told me they had never seen that before.
“When they were stitching me up, Cub [Swanson] told me to sit down and just chill because you lost 20 per cent of your blood, chill a little bit.”;
In his post-fight press conference, Garcia said: “After the fight, he said: “I think I got like ten stitches, I think.”;
When quizzed on the ten stitches being the most he’s ever received, he added: “I think so.
“I haven’t really ever got stitches.
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“Every time I got a little cut, they probably just glued it and that was about it.”;
The sheer amount of blood pouring from his head made Garcia fearful of the referee prematurely ending the contest.
He said: “With the ref and judges, you never know, you know?
“Sometimes judges see too much blood and they don’t give them [fighters] a round.
“Or they can stop the fight. You just never know.
“So that made me keep pushing and try to make a statement.”;
Victory over China’s Maheshate saw Garcia end the year on the high following a defeat to Drakkar Klose in July.
He said: “I feel like I stepped it up. I was walking always forward and it worked great for me.”;
The UFC will resume action on January 14 at the Apex in Las Vegas, with a middleweight showdown between Nassourdine Imaov and Kelvin Gastelum headlining the card.
The promotion’s first pay-per-view event of the year will take place a week later in Brazil, with a light-heavyweight title fight between former champion Glover Texeira and Jamahal Hill topping the bill.
