Evan Elder suffered a nasty gash slightly over an inch long on his right eye during his bout against Nazim Sadykhov at UFC Vegas 69, and Dana White published some photographs of the injury on his social media accounts.
Your FOTN honors belong to @Naz_MMA & Evan Elder tonight! đđđ
[ #UFCVegas69 | B2YB @ToyoTires ] pic.twitter.com/8Hd3GNJBQ2
— UFC (@ufc) February 19, 2023
The Phenom competed for the first time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2022 and was defeated by Preston Parsons on Fight Night. Almost a year later, Evan faced Nazim Sadykhov on 18th February where he suffered the brutal cut.
The 25-year-old fighter was expecting his first win for the promotion defeating Nazim but fate had other plan for the American. The odds were in Nazim Sadykhov’s favor, and he was able to extend his winning streak. Before, in August of last year, Black Wolf was victorious over Ahmad Hassanzada as well.
All three judges had Evan Elder up 20-18 heading into the third round. #UFCVegas69 pic.twitter.com/I90Mbpf3YD
— Mike Heck (@MikeHeck_JR) February 19, 2023
In the first two of rounds, Evan held a lead over his opponent in terms of knockdowns, strikes, and takedowns; hence, it was reasonable to assume that Evan would end up being the victor. Evan suffered a cut right over his eyes in the third round of the fight that was deep, wide, and horrific, causing the fight to be stopped due to the severity of the injury.
I just wanna bang @ufc @danawhite pic.twitter.com/IVqameesyo
— Evan (@ElderEvan) February 19, 2023
The president of the UFC, Dana White, did not believe that the severity of the injury was a sufficient justification to halt the fight because it was not evident to him how severe the damage was. Later on in the night, Dana shared some images on his social media and expressed his feelings as he looked at Evan’s cut closely.
I was questioning the stoppage. I will shut the f*** up now.â Dana shared on Instagram.
Hereâs what weâre looking at on Evan Elder.
At the medial border near his eyebrow- Its his supratrochlear vein!
Its large/engorged due to increased blood flow from damage/exercise
Thank goodness wasnât torn-bleeding would be gruesome!
Tag @danawhite!#evanelder #UFCVegas69 pic.twitter.com/0feYiQpnBR
— David Abbasi, MD (@DrDavidAbbasi) February 19, 2023
It is anticipated that it will take the American a few weeks to recover from the cut, although for the Russian, it was a significant triumph.
