Jorge Masvidal's knockdown of Colby Covington left his bitter rival's face briefly disfigured before he rallied to unanimous decision victory.
Covington scored a one-sided victory over Masvidal at UFC 272 to settle their long-standing feud which originates from their time as friends and training partners.
Masvidal found himself on the back foot from the opening bell despite showing brief glimpses of his striking power throughout.
And in the fourth round he landed a huge right hand to send Covington to the canvas, forching him to take a knee.
As the punch landed, Covington's face became disfigured by the powerful shot which threatened to hand Masvidal his stoppage opening.
However 'Gamebred' failed to capitalise on the shot with Covington quickly clambering back to his feet before wrestling his way to a dominant victory in the closing stages.
Despite felling the power of Masvidal at times in the contest, Covington was far superior on the night and was able to control the final round before having his arm raised.
Masvidal now faces another return to the drawing board after his third successive defeat left him well out of the welterweight title picture.
However the 37-year-old believes he could earn a rematch against Covington by scoring KO victories against other contenders.
"Definitely; I'm going to go and earn it though by knocking other people out," Masvidal said after the fight.
"Eventually I'll get in front of him, in front of [Kamaru] Usman. Right now, I'm far removed from that, probably two-three fights away from that.
"But I love the work, I love to fight. So as long as I can still hold my own in the gym, I'll be back in there."
And alongside a photo of his knockdown punch, Masvidal tweeted: "Far from over. I will be back."
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Covington and Masvidal were friends during their time training together at American Top Team.
However the friendship quickly turned sour with their rivalry quickly resorting to animosity as they ascended through the 170lb division.
Covington has twice lost to 170lb champion Usman but could earn another shot by beating the winner of Gilbert Burns' clash with Khamzat Chimaev on April 9.
'Chaos' has also expressed his willingness to fight Dustin Poirier and believes that he has shown he is the "No.1 fighter in the world" in settling his rivalry with Masvidal.
“There were a lot of emotions going into it,” Covington said. “That was a real friend of mine at one point in my career, and he’s such a backstabbing thief, and he talks so reckless.
"He tried to make some false narratives to the media and lies like he does – he’s a liar. He’s a thief. So I let the emotions get the best of me, but it was still dominant.
“I just showed how good I was, that I am the No. 1 fighter in the world for a reason, and it wasn’t even competitive tonight.”
