The footage of Edson Barboza sitting on the stool, nursing a cut on his leg, left many, including the commentators Joe Rogan, Jon Anik, and Daniel Cormier, shocked.

“A giant cut on the leg of Edson Barboza 😳,” the UFC on Paramount+ X post read, featuring twenty seconds of footage of the injury following the first round.

With Barboza sitting on the stool, his corner tended to his face, wiping the blood and sweat that followed a grueling exchange in the first round. What caught everyone’s attention, however, was the bleeding cut on top of his right shin.

“He’s got a giant cut on the top of his foot. It might be broken,” Joe Rogan was heard saying. He soon added, “Yeah, the soft end of his foot. That’s what it is.”

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Cormier followed, saying, “You can stop the fight. You can stop the fight here.”

That concern stemmed from the events that occurred during the break before the second round of the bout between Edson Barboza and Esteban Ribovics.

A decade younger than Barboza, the Argentine, knocked him out with a flurry of punches on the main card of UFC 330, headlined by Islam Makhachev and Ian Garry Machado.

That the bout extended halfway into the second round was surprising. The fight unfolded on expected grounds, with both Barboza and Ribovics going at each other with kicks and combinations. But as the exchange progressed, the Argentine prospect appeared to gain an upper hand, with one of his shots leaving a deep gash under the Brazilian’s eye.

Taking control, Ribovics dropped Barboza later in the round. Thanks to the horn, the latter managed to survive, though. Things were, however, not looking good given the deep cut Barboza had on his right leg.

As images of the wound began to appear, Rogan and Cormier worries that the blood seeping from the cut would flow onto the canvas, making it slippery and putting both fighters at considerable risk.

The fight, however, resumed. Ribovics, meanwhile, came prepared to finish the fight. Throwing punch after punch, he made Barboza look helpless until referee Herb Dean stepped in to protect him from further punishment, waiving off the fight with half a minute left.

Edson Barboza walks away with a lifetime of memories

With that, a journey that began more than seventeen years ago finally came to an end. Tearful and emotional, 40-year-old Edson Barboza later took off his gloves and bid goodbye to the sport that made him a familiar name in the community. This departure clearly didn’t end the way he might have wished.

“I just say, ‘Thank you,'” Barboza said as Joe Rogan held the mic. “I gave my best every single day. Every single fight, I really give my best. I hope you guys enjoyed. Thank you.”

Barboza’s emotional farewell follows what is now a four-fight losing streak. Beyond those defeats, the Rio de Janeiro native, who has a string of Muay Thai and kickboxing fights on his record, boasts appearances in high-profile fights, including those against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Tony Ferguson, and Donald Cerrone.

While he suffered losses in those fights, the way he fought, giving his best, clearly endeared Braboza to fans, who admired his striking abilities.

The Brazilian’s case is not unprecedented in UFC, though. It mirrors the circumstances involving Jack Shore and Joanderson Brito. Fighting at UFC 301 on May 4, 2024, heavy kicks from Brito battered Shore’s legs. Unlike Barboza-Ribovics, however, the fight was stopped by the cageside physician after Shore developed a deep laceration on his shin.

For Ribovics, the win should provide a much-needed boost after the loss he suffered from Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 327 on April 11, in Miami, Florida. Following his knockout victory over Thomas Paull in Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, Ribovics suffered a setback on his promotional debut when Loik Radzhabov outpointed him at UFC 285.

Despite losses to Nasrat Haqparast and Gamrot, Ribovics has managed to build a competitive record, and the win over Barboza could now take him to another level.