THIS is the horrifying moment a mixed martial artist's head was split open by a brutal knee strike from his opponent on Friday night.
American featherweight boxer Justin Gonzalez suffered a nasty injury while fighting against Great Britain's Brendan Loughnane at PFL6 in South Dakota.
With just under two minutes left in the second round of the bout, Gonzalez ducked a left and then ran straight into a powerful knee strike from Loughnane.
The perfectly timed shot left a deep gash on his forehead and blood quickly began to pour down his face as the round continued.
Loughnane pointed to the gash on his rival's head with a look of disbelief and a plea for the match to end before launching his next attack.
The referee quickly halted the bout and called in a cageside doctor to examine Gonzalez's cut, but it was quickly determined that Gonzalez was unable to continue.
Despite his severe injuries and blood all over his face and torso, the 33-year-old was begging doctors to let him keep fighting.
Gonzalez was left holding his head as Loughnane officially claimed the victory by technical knockout.
The boxer from Manchester claimed he saw Gonzalez's brains popping out of his head after he raised his hand before the bout was stopped.
“I saw his brain,” Loughnane says. “I saw this pink brain coming out of his head, and I said, 'Jason [referee] Be nice to him, this is going to get ugly.”
Gonzalez was eliminated from the featherweight division of this season's PFL tournament, in which fighters compete in a league format with the possibility of advancing to a playoff.
Loughnane had already clinched a playoff spot before taking to the field on Friday night.
“I heard it's over anyway, so yeah, I'll hold on, Brendan. I'm trying to hold on, but maybe I held on a little too long.”
“Then I started to get the timing right and landed a good calf kick. He started to get going and the timing of the knee… I've just watched it again and it was perfect.”
“So what can you say about the finish?”
