MMA fighter breaks rival's nose with vicious headbutt after losing TV show challenge

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By VT

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An MMA fighter has broken her rival's nose with a vicious headbutt after losing a TV show challenge.

The incident took place on the Romanian TV show Survivor Romania when 26-year-old Ana Maria Pal narrowly lost a reward-based challenge. Instead of accepting her loss gracefully, when a member of the other team told her: "It's hard Ana, it's hard", she proceeded to violently headbutt him.

This is the dramatic moment Pal breaks Andrei's nose: 

In the clip, Pal can be seen walking over to Andrei Ciobanu before squaring up to him with her arms out. At this point, Ciobanu dodges what looks like an inevitable slap before she headbutts him.

Ciobanu then falls to the floor, burying his face in his hands. Per the Daily Mail, the headbutt broke his nose.

Needless to say, Pal was immediately kicked off the show for the assault, which she later claimed her rival "deserved". According to MMA website Tapology, she has competed in five fights as a professional flyweight, two of which she won.

The assault was later condemned on Instagram by another MMA fighter, Diana Belbita, who has previously appeared on the show.

In a caption that has now been translated to English, Belbita wrote: "I cannot agree with the gesture tonight of Ana Maria Pal. It is not a typical gesture for performance fighters and I would like to avoid generalizing.

"If Ana made this gesture, she's the only one who takes it… This is not a typical gesture for a fighter, Ana Maria is the only one who assumes the consequences."

The assault was also addressed by Ciobanu himself on Instagram. He posted the above picture and said that the incident was "not to be commented on".

He continued: "But for those who support Ana's behavior… ask the following question: If your mother yelled at your father and for that, he received a punch in front, is it fair that he deserved it?"

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish Ciobanu all the best recovering from the incident.