UFC 244 was headlined by a bout between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz for the title of Baddest Motherf*cker (BMF) in the UFC. While there was plenty of hype and build-up to the event, there was an anticlimactic ending to the main event at Madison Square Garden when doctors stepped in and made the decision to stop the fight.
Masvidal was putting on a dominant performance and peppering Diaz up with consistent strikes which led to two big cuts around Diaz’s right eye.
While Diaz has suffered numerous cuts in the past and was allowed to continue fighting, the New York State Athletic Commission decided he had enough on Saturday night’s controversial stoppage.
But regardless of the decision, Diaz’s cuts did require some stitching up backstage and photos released by ESPN show just how deep the cuts were.
Here is a close look at Diaz’s cuts immediately after the cageside physician waved off the fight.
And here is a look at Diaz’s eye after the doctors got a hold of him.
Hopefully Diaz is able to heal quickly because mixed martial arts fans will be eager to see him back in the cage. But if he is looking for a rematch with Masvidal, he will have some work to do in order to convince UFC president Dana White that it is the right fight to make.
“It doesn’t interest me right away,” White said. “I think that I got asked a couple of questions tonight. ‘Diaz comes on in the later rounds. If this fight had gone later, would they have stopped it?’ But it didn’t,” White said during the post-fight press conference. “It got stopped with cuts and Masvidal looked very dominant. And he looked good.”
If you missed out on Saturday night’s action, we have you covered.
A full look at the results from UFC 244 can be seen below.
UFC 244 Results
- Jorge Masvidal def. Nate Diaz via TKO (doctor stoppage) — Round, 5:00
- Darren Till def. Kelvin Gastelum via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 30-27)
- Stephen Thompson def. Vicente Luque via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
- Derrick Lewis def. Blagoy Ivanov via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
- Kevin Lee def. Gregor Gillespie via KO (head kick) — Round 1, 2:47
- Corey Anderson def. Johnny Walker via (TKO) punches – Round 1, 2:07
- Shane Burgos def. Makwan Amirkhani via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:42
- Edmen Shahbazyan def. Brad Tavares via knockout (punches – Round 1, 2:27
- Jair Rozenstruik def. Andrei Arlovski via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:29
- Katlyn Chookagian def. Jennifer Maia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Lyman Good def. Chance Rencountre via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:03
- Hakeem Dawodu def. Julio Arce via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
