Dana White questioned stoppage in Evan Elder vs. Nazim Sadykhov fight until he saw the cut up close

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Evan Elder was up on the scorecards but sadly he didn’t get to finish his fight against Nazim Sadykhov after he suffered a gruesome cut along his eyebrow in the third round.

The nasty cut opened up during an exchange that forced referee Mark Smith to immediately pause the action while the ringside physician made his way into the cage to take a look at the gash. It didn’t take long for the doctor to realize the cut was far too bad for Elder to continue and the fight was stopped.

In the aftermath of the stoppage, UFC president Dana White posted a series of gruesome images showing the damage that Elder sustained.

“I was questioning the stoppage,” White wrote on Instagram. “I will shut the f*** up now.”

WARNING FOR GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW

Thankfully, the cut was quickly stitched up following the fight.

Elder was understandably disappointed with the outcome with the scorecards later revealing that he was up 20-18 from all three judges heading into the final round.

The back-and-forth battle saw Elder consistently get the better of the exchanges with Sadykhov, which allowed him to remain in control for longer stretches of time during the fight.

The cut changed everything with the stoppage coming at just 38 seconds into the third round with Sadykhov earning the victory by TKO after the doctor would not allow Elder to continue.

The win moved Sadykhov to 8-1 in his career but more importantly he earned a victory in his octagon debut after previously appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series.