Brutal elbow by MMA fighter leaves opponent’s ear partially detached from his head in freak injury

No other sport has the injury risk of MMA, but rarely does a fighter completely lose a body part in the cage.

A video clip from the co-main event of the Absolute Championship Akhmat 166 fight card recently went viral on social media. Towards the end of the fight, Edil Esengulov can be seen in the top position and landing a slicing elbow on the side of the head of Vinicius Cruz. The elbow landed directly on Cruz's ear, nearly tearing it off.

Blood immediately gushed out of Cruz's ear and poured all over his body as his right ear could be seen visibly dangling off from where it should be attached. The bout would rightfully be stopped by the cage side doctor, awarding Esengulov with the TKO victory.

Many who saw the clip on social media compared the injury to the UFC debut of Ramiz Brahimaj. The American welterweight suffered a similar injury in his fight against Max Griffin in 2020. Brahimaj would also end up losing via doctor stoppage TKO.

On a positive note for Cruz, Brahimaj was able to make a relatively quick return, given the nature of his injury. The Fortis MMA prospect got back into the octagon nine months later against Sasha Palatnikov and got back into the win column with a submission.

Despite having essentially only one ear, Cruz was visibly upset when the fight got called off.

---

Who is the MMA welterweight Vinicius Cruz?

Fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vinicius Cruz has a respectable 12-6-1 professional record. Prior to the doctor stoppage loss to Edil Esengulov, Cruz had won two in a row as a part of the ACA welterweight tournament.

Cruz is a product of Team Nogueira in Brazil, founded by the legendary twin brothers Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Although entering the ACA 166 fight as a sizeable underdog, many people believed Cruz had a path to victory with a striking advantage. However, Esengulov was able to assert his dominant pressure early and got the stoppage less than a minute into the second round.