Niko Price suffered a horrific cut to his eye during his UFC 249 defeat to Vicente Luque.
Price and Luque opened the prelim card at the empty Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in a thrilling welterweight contest.
In a rematch of their 2017 encounter which Luque won via submission, the Brazilian landed a devastating left hook that dropped Price in the second half of the third round.
While eager to continue, the ringside doctor judged Price to be in no condition to continue with his left eye effectively swollen shut as a result of the damage he had taken.
Fight pictures showed the gruesome extent of the damage that forced the stoppage and saw Luque extend his MMA record to 18-7-1.
UFC is the first major sport to resume in the US amid the coronavirus pandemic with tonight's show the first of three events taking place behind closed doors in Jacksonville, Florida.
