Former UFC headliner 'Cowboy' Oliveira knocked out in bareknuckle debut in Russia

The combat sports world can be a fickle mistress, which a former UFC headliner continued to discover Friday.

Alex Oliveira made his bareknuckle boxing debut at a REN TV Fight Club event in Russia. He was knocked down twice in the first round and suffered a TKO loss to Igor Ionov.

Check out the brutal stoppage below, after which Oliveira appeared to be trying to work his nose back into place.

Alex "Cowboy" Oliveira loses his bare knuckle debut via 1st round TKO pic.twitter.com/DGu9Yiyp6X

— Matysek (@Matysek88) September 20, 2024

After a 3-1 start to his UFC career, Oliveira headlined UFC Fight Night 83 against another “Cowboy,” Donald Cerrone. And though he was submitted in the first round, “Cowboy” Oliveira went on a serious 6-1 run after that, including three post-fight bonus awards.

But a first-round submission loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov in October 2020 started a four-fight skid in the UFC, including three stoppage losses, and he was let go in 2022.

The 36-year-old Oliveira has gone 3-4 in MMA fights since then with three first-round TKO wins, but also four stoppage losses. This latest setback is his third straight combat sports loss.