Leslie Smith’s ear was ripped partially off her head during her UFC 180 bout against Jessica Eye.

Leslie Smith’s Ear Tears

Smith and Eye were battling it out Saturday at the Mexico City Arena, but the fight ended prematurely after Smith’s ear noticeably started to become detached, reported Yahoo! Sports. In the closing seconds of the first round, Eye landed the punch that split open Smith’s ear, causing blood to spurt everywhere and covering her face.

Before the second round commenced, doctors evaluated Smith. In part due to her insistence that she wasn’t done fighting, Smith was permitted to get back into the ring. Eye targeted Smith’s ear right from the start, hoping to cause enough injury to force a TKO. After Eye hit Smith’s ear a couple more times, referee Herb Dean felt compelled to call time so doctors could look at Smith’s ear again. This time, the ear was flapping down, leading Dean to give Eye the TKO win.

In a post-bout interview, Smith admitted that she wasn’t happy with the result of the fight or the referee’s decision, but she knows how gruesome her ear looked. “I’m disappointed. It wasn’t the way I wanted that fight to end. I felt like I was getting my stride,” she told MMAfighting.com. “[Jessica] had a great first round. But man, I feel like I was getting in the smooth of things. And man, that ear is a bummer. I was pretty mad. I didn’t know what it looked like while I was in there.”

Smith, who wants a rematch against Eye, was also disappointed in Eye’s celebration of her win, even though it was for a UFC match. “Well, it did occur to that that’s not the way that I would have been acting if that’s how I’d just won the fight,” she said. “But a win is a win right? And a win in the UFC is a great thing to celebrate.”

As for Eye, she’s certainly satisfied with her victory. In her mind, it could only have gone better if she’d earned a knockout. “When I connected and saw her ear blow up, that became my main target,” Eye said. “I was going to keep hitting it until they stopped the fight or it fell off. My goal is to be the first girl in the UFC to get a knockout win. I know I’ll do it. Now I’ve climbed another rung on the ladder, and I’ll look around and see what my options are, but ‘Im almost to the top.”

Following the bout, Eye also took to Twitter to compliment Smith’s fighting skills and to wish her a speedy recovery.