UFC middleweight Albert Duraev suffered a horror eye injury against Joaquin Buckley which forced the fight to end early.
Duraev was stopped from going into the third round as the cageside doctor deemed his eye too closed to continue.
The Russian, 33, is likely to be handed a lengthy suspension while his injury heals.
Buckley said after the fight: “This is war when we come out here in this cage.
“No animosity, I love that boy, he’s my brother. Just hard work, hard grind, going back to that blue collar time.”
Buckley, 28, wanted a viral knockout but was ultimately happy the fight ended when it did.
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He said at the post-fight press conference:“The doctor stoppage, it was cool. But you always want those viral knockouts and those viral moments.
“That’s my biggest thing. I’m glad the doctor stopped it for him and for his health, but I just wish he added a little bit more pressure so I could’ve turned his lights off.”
Buckley is now on a three-fight winning streak and continues to build towards a UFC title shot.
His win over Duraev was among his most dominant performances but is just what the American expected.
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Buckley added: “I knew this fight was going to be exactly what it was. I knew what he was capable of.
"The one thing that he was good at was holding people down, and I made sure this whole camp to practice if I got taken down that I was getting back up.
"So we worked a lot of scenarios on the ground and just worked on being patient, working my hips to the cage, and stand back up, and just throw them hands.”
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