MMA heavyweight Chris Barnett suffered a freak injury before his UFC 208 bout even started – where he then proceeded to get knocked out in the first round.

‘Beastboy’ was contesting his fifth Octagon appearance in Dana White’s promotion, but an injury in his pre-fight preparations seemingly proved costly.

Barnett was hyped during Bruce Buffer’s introduction ahead of his boutGetty

He jumped with both feet in the air in his preparations – which instantly backfiredGetty

Barnett, who is renowned for his acrobatic style within the Octagon, was hyping himself up while UFC announcer Bruce Buffer was introducing the fight.

In doing so, he jumped up with both feet in the air, but landed in an awkward position and looked down to his right leg as if something was wrong.

It was evident during the first round of the bout that Barnett was not comfortable on the feet.

Kennedy Nzechukwu, his opponent, came forward early, prompting Barnett to throw several leg kicks in the direction of the Nigerian.

Nzechukwu then fainted a spinning kick that caused the American to laugh, where he gave him a high-five during the contest.

But as the clock ticked on during the first round, Barnett, who has suffered from a recent Achilles injury, looked compromised.

One of his earlier leg kicks from the start of the fight had clearly worsened his pre-fight injury.

UFC coverage picked up on Nzechukwu’s corner telling him that Barnett was hurt, which led the 6’5” southpaw to release a series of punches that forced Barnett to cover up.

Referee Jason Herzog arguably should’ve stopped the fight earlier, but he let it go for a couple of more seconds before finally waving the fight off.

After the bout, Barnett needed assistance and looked in agony as he limped out of the arena.

He landed awkwardly following his jump, which caused him to stumble into the cageGetty

Nzechukwu made the most of his opponents injury by knocking him outGetty

One fan took to X and said: “My knees hurt watching that.”

A second added: “Damn you can see the moment he realise he hurt it.”

While a third commented: “Fighters need to stop making stupid and unnecessary things.”

UFC 308 sees Ilia Topuria put his featherweight belt on the line against Max Holloway.

He picked up the belt for the first time after knocking out Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February.

Volkanovski has proved to be Holloway’s kryptonite during his UFC career, as the latter lost three featherweight title bouts to the Australian between 2019 and 2022.

Robert Whittaker faces Khamzat Chimaev in a five-round co-main event, while Manchester’s Lerone Murphy also features on the main card against Dan Ige.

No.1 ranked light heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev faces Alexsandar Rakic and Shara Magonedov fights Armen Petrosyan on the main card too.

UK fans can watch all of the main card fights on TNT Sports Box Office from 7pm BST tonight.