Photo: Alex Oliveira needed 29 stitches in forehead after bloody UFC 231 loss to Gunnar Nelson

Gunnar Nelson finished Alex Oliveira in the second round in Toronto, Canada.

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Alex Oliveira needed some stitches after his UFC 231 bout with Gunnar Nelson.

“Cowboy” had a good start against “Gunni” in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday night, but Nelson was able to come back in the second round, take him down and get on the mount, from where he landed a vicious elbow that opened a deep cut in his forehead.

Nelson tapped the Brazilian with a rear-naked choke a few seconds later, scoring his first win since March 2017.

Oliveira returned to the losing column after a good run earlier this year, with stoppage victories over Carlo Pedersoli and Carlos Condit, but not even a deep cut made him stop smiling.

Andre Tadeu, Oliveira’s head coach at ATS in Tres Rios, sent MMA Fighting a photo of the Brazilian welterweight getting stitched up with a smile on his face. According to Tadeu, the cut in “Cowboy’s” forehead required a total of 29 stitches.