Haunting photo emerges after $50,000 knockout kick disfigures UFC fighter

One photo of Marlon Vera’s $50,000 kick to the face of Frankie Edgar has gone viral after UFC 268 on Sunday.

And it never gets any easier to explain.

Vera took home a ‘performance of the night’ bonus when his front kick to Edgar’s chin ended the fight then and there.

It was brutal enough on video but MMA photographer Louis Grasse’s image took the cake.

One fan said Vera “turned Frankie Edgar into a character from Wallace and Gromit”.

Another compared it to an artist’s impression of The Simpsons character Moe Szyslak.

Others thought Edgar had turned into Smeagol from The Lord of the Rings.

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Whoever he looks like, it could be the last time the 40-year-old Edgar will be knocked out in a cage.

The former lightweight champion has lost twice this year and four times in his past five fights.

Edgar was the only fighter to be knocked out on the main card at UFC 268.

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In the main event, Kamaru Usman defeated Colby Covington by unanimous decision to retain the welterweight championship.

The win was Usman’s 19th in a row, including five title defences.

“I am the pound-for-pound best alive right now,” he said.

Rose Namajunas defeated Zhang Weili via split decision in the co-main event to hold on to her strawweight belt.

Judge Michael Bell submitted a 48-47 scorecard for Weili, while Eric Colon (49-46) and Doug Crosby (48-47) had Namajunas winning the