What’s the Most Brutal MMA match of all time?

There have been a lot of epic wars in the UFC (and other big MMA promotions), really too many to count. But some fights just stand out in one's memory. Some you can never forget the damage the fighters sustained as well as the tremendous heart they displayed. Which were the most brutal or gruesome?? It is very hard to say. It depends on how you define brutal. Do you just mean incredibly bloody? Or do you mean something more… a fight that has obvious, horrible and lasting consequences to the combatant? Here are some of my pics for the most memorable and brutally gruesome matches in modern MMA.

UFC 189 Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawlor (2015)

Let’s take the first definition where I mean bloody to the point of almost insanity. There have been some truly memorable slobber-knockers in the UFC. Some make you cringe given how much blood and gore were on display. But very few can even come close to this fight.

This was an absolute bloody mess of a war: it was in UFC 189 where Rory MacDonald faced a resurgent Robbie Lawlor, who was back int he UFC with an axe to grind. This was five rounds of just face smashing insanity. To give you an idea of the bout here was a headline from the day after the fight:

“Rory MacDonald still has a nose after that ultra-violent loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 189.”

Lawlor almost LITERALLY punched Rory’s face off. Take a look at this pic from the championship rounds of the fight. Rory looks more like an extra in a zombie horror movie than a human being. But Rory showed incredible heart and he gave back almost as good as he got, shredding Lawlor’s face with elbows. One look at Robbie’s lip and you get an idea of how gruesome this fight was. But even so, the punishment to Rory’s nose was too much and in the fifth he crumpled in agony from the damage. Post-fight x-rays proved that McDonald’s nose was horribly damaged and one article said the imaging showed his nose had been “obliterated.” X-Ray: Rory MacDonald’s nose is completely obliterated after epic war with Robbie Lawler (Sports Joe)

UFC 248 Zhang Weili vs, Joanna Jedrzejczyk 1 (2020)

The next candidate for most gruesome fight has to be the strawweight title fight between Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248. These two warriors went at it in an absolute war of attrition. Post fight the commentators were in awe: Joe Rogan remarked, ‘Those two women fought for their lives.” and former champ Michael Bisping was quoted saying, “You leave a piece of yourself in the Octagon when you go through something like they did.”

UFC: Joe Rogan says Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk proves ‘MMA is not a game’

It was a battle of power versus heart and grit. Zhang clearly was the fighter with more power. Her repeated attacks to Joanna’s face left her entire head in absolute ruins. I am not exaggerating. At the end of the fight Joanna didn’t look human… I have never before seen such a terrible deformation of someone’s face in combat, and I have seen thousands of matches. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here is a picture of Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s facial hematoma’s post fight contrasted with what she normally looks like. This is not special effects. This is the real life damage that comes from a war with a game and an incredibly powerful opponent (pound-for-pound). And it will probably be remembered as one of the most gruesome beatings in the UFC female division.

Vale Tudo Japan 2 Gerard Gordeau vs Yuki Nakai (1995)

On April 20, 1995 a historic tournament was held in Japan that not only made a star of it’s winner, Rickson Gracie, but also showed the incredible heart and grit of it’s second place finisher, Yuki Nakai through a truly gruesome injury. Well not as bloody as the above fights, it’s more brutal and gruesome for the lasting and terrible damage that was inflicted.
Nakai entered as the lightest competitor (135lbs) in the single elimination tournament. His opening round saw him pitted against Dutch Savate and Kyokushin practitioner Gerard Gordeau. Gordeau had lost in UFC 1 to Royce Gracie amid accusations that the Dutchman had bitten Gracie illegally. Well he would continue his rule breaking and as such be the reason his MMA match with Nakai is not only the most infamous in the sport, but also probably the most gruesome fight ever recorded.

Nakai began with a takedown attempt but Gordeau used the ropes to keep himself standing and began his cheating with some blatant thumbing.

The second round played out the same and to adjust, Nakai dropped down to attempt a heel hook on the Dutch fighter’s exposed legs.

Gordeau not only clamped himself as tightly as possible to the ropes to punch the vulnerable Nakai, he also, illegally and immorally, resorted to a series of hellacious and incredibly gruesome eye gouges, jamming his fingers deep in Nakai’s eye socket and literally pulping his opponent’s eyeball.

Incredibly after half an hour of fighting Nakai pulled off the upset and submitted his opponent with his trademark leg attack. But his right eye was completely ruined.

Despite being gravely injured, Nakai continued into the next bracket defeating striker Clay Pittman and then moved up to face Rickson Gracie for the championship finals. Rickson was so impressed with Nakai’s guts, courage, and samurai spirit, he adamantly refused to punch the injured area (even when his brother Royler encouraged him to). In actuality the injury was so severe that Nakai lost his vision entirely in his right eye, and was blinded for life. Could anything be more gruesome than the complete smashing of someone’s eye and permanently blinding them?? While we were privileged to see something amazing in Nakai’s indomitable spirit, let’s hope we never see a travesty of rule breaking like this ever again.