Dustin Stoltzfus reveals fractured face, nerve damage after Brunno Ferreira's spinning elbow KO at UFC Louisville

Dustin Stoltzfus suffered some serious damage after UFC on ESPN 57.

Stoltzfus’ (15-6 MMA, 2-5 UFC) face was smashed courtesy of a spinning back elbow by Brunno Ferreira (12-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in their middleweight bout this past Saturday at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.

It was a wild first round where Stoltzfus was more than game to engage in a brawl with Ferreira. He had his moments, but with less than 10 seconds remaining in Round 1, Stoltzfus was sent crashing to the canvas by Ferreira, causing severe damage to his face.

Stoltzfus opened up on the loss in an Instagram post Sunday.

“Not too much to say here. I strayed from the game plan at the end of the round.

I feel like a fraud. I am better than this and I owe it to the amazing people who support me to do better. That being said, there are only so many spinning elbows to the face even my big ol’ head can take.

That being said: I’ve got a lot of healing to do. My face is fractured and I have some significant nerve damage. I don’t know when I’ll be back to training, let alone fighting.

Thankfully, the great people at the @ufc have always taken good care of me. I went out there to put on a show, now it’s time to put me back together and see what’s next.

Thank you all for the love, but I’ll probably be off socials for a while .”

With the loss, Stoltzfus has split his past four appearances. Ferreira’s past six wins have come by first-round knockout.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 57.