PHOTO: Fighter suffers grotesque shin injury, loses title via doctor's stoppage

An unfortunate injury brought an anti-climactic end to the GLORY 83 main event kickboxing clash that went down in Essen, Germany last Saturday. Sergej Maslobojev looked to defend his light-heavyweight title against Donegi Abena in a five-round affair.

Maslobojev and Abena went toe-to-toe for the most part before the fight came to an anti-climactic end in the fourth round. Maslobojev threw a right leg kick which was blocked well by Abena, immediately opening up a deep cut to the champion's shin.

The central referee called a pause in action to get the cageside doctor's opinion on Maslobojev's injury. The Lithuanian stormed out of the cage complaining as officials deemed him unable to continue. His camp claims to have lodged an official protest demanding documents confirming the qualifications of the cageside doctor.

Abena won the fight via doctor's stoppage to become the new GLORY light heavyweight champion. The 24-year-old Surinamese also became the youngest kickboxing champ in the history of the promotion.

Watch the injury below (GRAPHIC CONTENT Warning):

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UFC title fights stopped due to injury

Several UFC main-events have been met with unfortunate ends due to fighters suffering unfortunate injuries. Some recent examples include Calvin Kattar's knee injury in the UFC Vegas 63 main-event clash against Arnold Allen, Tom Aspinall's blown-out knee against Curtis Blaydes at UFC London and McGregor's broken leg that has kept the Irishman out of the octagon since UFC 264 in July 2021.

Apart from Fight Night headliners, injuries have even caused UFC title fights to stop prematurely. While Jose Aldo defended his featherweight strap against Chan Sung Jung at UFC 163 via TKO, the finishing sequence came as a result of 'The Korean Zombie' dislocating his elbow.

Meanwhile, Patrick Cote was posing Anderson Silva a tough challenge before ending up with a torn-up ACL in the main event at UFC 90.

Watch the highlights below:

Silva went undefeated for eight more fights, recording the most title defenses in UFC middleweight history. 'The Spider's magnificent run came to an end with a shocking second-round TKO loss to Chris Weidman at the UFC 162 headliner in 2013.

The Brazilian went on to suffer yet another TKO loss in the rematch but this time due to a freak injury. Silva's shin grotesquely snapped in half as Weidman blocked his leg kick in round 2, bringing an immediate stop to the contest.