UFC star was once injured in Christmas Eve grenade attack days after loss left him with 38 stitches

A UFC fighter had a wild Christmas Eve experience seven years ago today.

The UFC’s event schedule for 2025 came to a close on December 13. The promotion is now on a lengthy break during the holiday period before returning on January 24 with UFC 324.

Christmas time is often a time for relaxation and enjoyment, especially for those MMA fighters without fights booked for January.

But that was certainly not the case for one UFC fighter back in 2018, who had a brutal setback inside the Octagon followed up by a bizarre one away from the cage on Christmas Eve…

Alex Oliveira was hospitalized by a grenade following brutal UFC loss in 2018

Alex Oliveira competed at welterweight and lightweight during his time on MMA’s biggest stage, and entertainment was never far away when ‘Cowboy’ entered the Octagon.

The Brazilian’s best run in the UFC came between 2017 and 2018, when he lost just once in the span of eight fights. The streak included memorable knockouts of Will Brooks and Ryan LaFlare, as well as submission victories over Tim Means and Carlos Condit.

Oliveira was looking to continue that momentum with one final victory in 2018, but those plans were stalled by Gunnar Nelson. The Icelandic fighter survived an onslaught of ground-and-pound in the first round before dishing out some of his own en route to submitting Oliveira in the second.

‘Cowboy’ was left needing 38 stitches on his forehead as a result of that beating at UFC 231 on December 8, but that was not to be the only damage that the Brazilian would sustain in the lead-up to Christmas.

On this day, December 24, in 2018, Oliveira was injured by a grenade in his home town of Tres Rios in Brazil. While purchasing gasoline for his mother’s car, the UFC star witnessed family members involved in an altercation. When he moved to intervene, a grenade was thrown in Oliveira’s direction.

“One guy came up and pointed a gun at my nephew’s face, and that’s when people started pushing each other,” Oliveira told local outlet TV Rio Sul after the incident. “They had machetes, knives, a grenade. They threw a grenade in my direction. Shrapnel hit my leg and my foot.”

Oliveira subsequently went to the local hospital and had to undergo surgery to have grenade fragments removed from his leg.