Brazilian mixed martial artist Diego Brandão is no stranger to unusual incidents. The former UFC fighter was released from his contract with MMA’s premier company after he allegedly pistol-whipped someone outside of Albuquerque strip club in April of 2016. The situation was puzzling, as Brandão was finally coming into his own as a fighter in the company, even headlining a 2014 UFC event against Conor McGregor.
Since his dismissal, the Brazilian has been fighting in Russian MMA promotion Fight Nights Global, and everything there seemed to be fine and going well…until his most recent fight. During a bout with Russian lightweight Akhmed Aliev on Monday, the 30-year-old Brazilian appeared to be control when, roughly 3 minutes into round 2, all hell broke loose.
In a video posted to Fight Nights Global’s official YouTube account, you can catch the fight and ensuing madness. After an entertaining first round where Brandão actually knocked down Aliev, the second round exploded into a mess. In the midst of a takedown, Brandão appeared to try to bite the Russian fighter’s ear. Obviously aggravated by the attempted Mike Tyson maneuver, Aliev proceeded to smash Barndão with illegal headbutts to the chest.
With whatever little control the official still had over the fight at this point, he attempted to bring both fighters to their feet, but not before Brandão got one last kick off to Aliev’s neck. Visibly frustrated, he tried to leave the cage, but after realizing that the door was locked, Brandão decided that he had enough and chose to climb out instead. All the while, the octagon was being filled with garbage thrown in by the paying audience.
Eventually, Brandão was convinced to get back into the ring so that Aliev could be announced as the winner by TKO–since Brandão left the cage, he was handed the loss by “retirement.” To voice his displeasure with the whole situation, the Brazilian flicked off the audience on his way out of the arena. A fitting end to quite the bizarre fight, all things told.