MMA star Top Noi Kiwram suffered a horror eye gouge in a Road to UFC bout against Nyamjargal Tumendemberel.
The tournament offers Asia’s top MMA prospects the chance to win a multi-fight UFC contract.
And the latest show was held in Shanghai and featured a flyweight clash between Thailand’s Kiwram and Mongolia’s Tumendemberel.
During the bout, Kiwram brutally had his eye gouged while being left covered in blood.
And he was dealt another blow after walking away from the fight a split-decision loser.
Kiwram, who now has a 9-5 record, raised eyebrows last year when he admitted to a bizarre smoking ritual.
He said: “Before fights I smoke cigarettes. When I fight, in the morning, yes, I smoke cigarettes.
“In the morning I eat things, when you’re full you want to smoke a cigarette. Sleeping, wake up, smoke a cigarette. Go to fight.”
Kiwram has transitioned to MMA from Muay Thai, where he quite literally lived in the gym.
Kiwram’s coach and translator Frank Hickman said: “Their life is fighting.
“They stay at the gym, they eat at the gym, the big boss takes 50 per cent because they feed them, they house them, they do everything, they pay for everything.
“These guys, when they come to MMA, they don’t know anything. Like, my wife is Thai so she has to help them a lot with opening a bank account, stuff like that.
“They don’t have any life skills because in Thailand they’re literally like race horses. They’re owned by the gym. They can’t just leave their gym and go somewhere else.”
