Junior dos Santos Suffered Facial Laceration, Received Stitches Ahead of UFC 166

Junior dos Santos nearly lost his opportunity to break a tie with heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 166 on Saturday.

During the UFC 166 open workouts on Wednesday, Dos Santos revealed to MMAJunkie.com and assembled media that he'd required three stitches for a facial laceration only three weeks ago.

"It was in the training (camp), and it was accidental," Dos Santos said. "I'm OK already. I'm 100 percent already."

Dos Santos will be able to go this weekend, sparing UFC officials from having to do some late scrambling in order to save a UFC 166 fight card that features the Brazilian in a heavyweight championship match. Nonetheless, a cut suffered only one month prior to a fight of this magnitude, especially above the eye, has to be concerning to Dos Santos and his team.

The stitches have been removed, but a noticeable scar remains above Dos Santos' right eyebrow.

With a cut so recently healed, there is potential for the laceration to be opened again during competition. Facing an opponent like Velasquez, who turned Antonio Silva into a bloody mess at UFC 146, those chances are only increased.

In all other facets, Dos Santos appeared in prime condition on Wednesday. The former champion looked fit and ready while hitting pads during the open workouts.

Still, Dos Santos' cut has become something worth paying attention to on Saturday.

Should Velasquez open that wound back up at UFC 166, Dos Santos will be dealing with one more obstacle he doesn't need in his quest to reclaim the heavyweight championship.

At UFC 155, Velasquez alone proved difficult enough for Dos Santos to deal with. Adding vision problems due to draining blood could drive a dagger into Dos Santos' UFC 166 title hopes.