In a sport as brutal as mixed martial arts, injuries come with the territory, but even by UFC standards, a fractured face and nerve damage isn’t ideal, with Dustin Stoltzfus now facing a long road to recovery.

On June 8, at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, the German displayed a remarkable fighting heart, trading ferocious blows with Brunno Ferreira in a brutal battle of blood and guts. Alas, there are only so many spinning back elbows one man can take, as the 32-year-old found out in devastating fashion.

Viral spinning elbow knockout earns ‘Hulk’ an extra $50,000

In a fight that epitomized everything we all love about mixed martial arts, Dustin Stoltzfus and Brunno Ferreira produced a brawl that will go down in UFC history.

With a love of the fire, both men put it all on the line in a war of attrition that left both competitors walking out of the cage, different from when they entered.

Taking the front foot, Stoltzfus marched his opponent down, desperate to apply the kind of overwhelming pressure that could force him to wilt. However, his strategy was blown out of the water when ‘Hulk’ connected with a beautiful spinning back elbow to set the wheels in motion for his rival’s demise.

In a testament to his unrelenting will to win, Stoltzfus took the blows coming his way, launching a few of his own back in a commendable attempt to stay in the contest. Alas, the writing was on the wall.

Ferreira landed a second spinning back elbow to send his adversary crashing toward the canvas, forcing the referee to dive in and call a halt to proceedings.

The exceptional performance earned the victor a tasty $50,000 bonus and left the loser with a plethora of injuries, shining a light on the highs and lows of this enigma of a sport.

Dustin Stoltzfus reveals the extent of horrific injury after UFC Louisville

With the dust settled, the brave warrior took to Instagram to open up to his adoring fans about the magnitude of his horrifying injuries.

He wrote: “Not too much to say here. I strayed from the game plan at the end of the round.

“I feel like a fraud. I am better than this and I owe it to the amazing people who support me to do better. That being said, there are only so many spinning elbows to the face even my big ol’ head can take.

“I’ve got a lot of healing to do. My face is fractured and I have some significant nerve damage. I don’t know when I’ll be back to training, let alone fighting.

“Thankfully, the great people at the UFC have always taken good care of me. I went out there to put on a show; now it’s time to put me back together and see what’s next.

“Thank you all for the love, but I’ll probably be off socials for a while.”

Whilst Stoltzfus will be out for some time, his opponent is looking for a quick turnaround, with the handy Brazilian pleading with the UFC to make a fight the fans would love to see.

In his post-fight interview, he said: “Thank you guys. You’re going to see that video many times. I trained that a lot. I knew that he was loading his punches, and I knew that was going to land because I was training that a lot. Once again, I think this deserves a bonus.

“I want to propose a challenge, judo vs. wrestling; come on, Bo Nickal.”

UFC fighters react to vicious finish of Dustin Stoltzfus

The frightening knockout soon went viral, with a plethora of the promotion’s biggest names reacting on social media.

Former bantamweight King, Aljamain Sterling wrote: “SHEEESH!! WOW! Nasty KO! That was clean,” while Stephen Thompson said: “Woooooow…didn’t even look that hard. Perfect placement.”

Struggling to find the words, Marlon Vera posted, simply: “Wow.”

Hoping he’ll land something similar at UFC 304 next month, world title contender, Belal Muhammad, added: “Wooooooow these debuts today.”