UFC 248 stunned by crazy eye injury to Rodolfo Vieira during submission victory

Ouch.

UFC 248 offered an early reminder of MMA's immense brutality when Brazilian middleweight Rodolfo Vieira emerged from his fight with a gruesome eye injury.

Despite winning a bout against Saparbek Safarov via round one submission (arm triangle), Vieira emerged with hideous damage to his left eye, which was swollen completely shut.

Vieira was taken to hospital for a precautionary assessment.

Not that Viera would have been too bothered. The 30-year-old, a multiple world champion in jiu-jitsu, moved to 7-0 with the impressive victory at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

He is 2-0 in the UFC and has a 100 per cent finish rate, with six submissions and one TKO (punches).

And as bad as Vieira's eye looked, it probably still runs second to former UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione in this nasty bracket of injuries.

UFC 248 is headlined by the middleweight world title fight between New Zealand star Israel Adesanya and Cuban beast Yoel Romero.