Rodolfo Vieira avoided a horror scare when he picked up a brutal eye injury and protected his undefeated MMA streak at UFC 248 on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Brazilian, who has won all seven of his professional MMA fights, was in action against Saparbek Safarov in Las Vegas.
But Vieira looked on his way to a doctor's stoppage loss when he suffered a shocking eye injury in the opening round of his fight.
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Safarov, 33, delivered brutal shots that resulted in Vieira's left eye taking a ridiculous amount of punishment and forcing it to swell shut.
However, Vieira managed to bounce back from his early setback by lifting Safarov up and slamming him to the mat.
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The 'Black Belt Hunter' controlled the fight from there by getting on top of his opponent before readjusting himself into a position to lock in an arm-triangle choke.
Vieira, who was only in his second UFC fight, has won six of his seven professional fights through submission.
The UFC fighter made his name in Brazilian and Russian MMA promotions before he signed with Dana White's organisation in 2019.