Eddie Hall was left with one eye "shut down" and a concussion after a sparring session with Rob 'Big Red' Lamont in preparation for his fight with Thor Bjornsson.
The former world's strongest men will square off in Dubai next week to settle a half-decade-long feud that began when the Icelandic giant accused Hall of cheating at a tournament in 2017.
The pair have been getting into incredible physical condition ahead of the bout, which takes place at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on March 19, and have sparred with professional boxers in the lead-up.
Bjornsson has had two public exhibition bouts against Steven Ward and Simon Vallily, as well as a competitive outing which he ended in seconds against arm wrestling champion Devon Larratt.
And while Hall has kept his cards closer to his chest in recent months as he ramps up his training camp, he has revealed that Lamont caused him some relatively severe damage in a sparring session ahead of the fight.
"I've got 'Big Red' here [in Dubai for the end of his camp]," he told his followers in a video blog released to YouTube today. "He's going to be my main sparring partner whilst we're here.
"I think I'll do a couple of sparring sessions but try to keep the power down because Big Red hit me that hard the other week he actually shut one of my eyes down.
"One pupil went tiny and the other one stayed the same, he gave me a concussion basically, so I had a bad head for about three days. It was a good fun!"
Hall shared a photo of the aftermath of their sparring session in the video, where he detailed his final preparations for the Bjornsson fight, which has been two years in the making.
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The pair agreed to the bout in early 2020, but an injury to Hall stopped it from happening last September when the Icelandic strongman instead faced Larratt.
And Hall has also revealed he is dealing with a chest infection, which he insists will be cleared by the time the fight comes around after landing in Dubai.
"I'm recovering from the back end of a bad cold," he said during an episode of his vlog series. "You can tell it's on my chest.
"I just want to chill and get this cold out of me, I've got two weeks to get it out and get some good cardio in before the fight next week."
Bjornsson has had longer to train for the bout after Hall was left needing shoulder surgery for the injury that cost them their first fight date in September.
And fans are generally favouring him to win given his height and reach advantage, as well as the amount of fighting experience he has under the lights.
