Rafael dos Anjos lost the opportunity to become the interim UFC welterweight champion at UFC 225, losing to Colby Covington via unanimous decision in Chicago earlier this month, and had to go under the knife to fix an old issue.

dos Anjos posted a photo on his Instagram stories earlier this week announcing that he had done an ear procedure. In fact, it was not the first time he had to have ear “fixed.”

The former UFC lightweight champion suffered a big cut behind his ear against Covington, and it was stitched right after the contest. Sources told MMA Fighting that dos Anjos had to get his ear stitched five times since a sparring session with Michael Bisping in Oct. 2017 before his win over Robbie Lawler. dos Anjos had his ear stitched up two weeks before UFC 225 as well.

It was a deep cut this time against Covington, though. dos Anjos thought his left ear could fall off, so they decided to have plastic surgery to fix it properly and prevent it from happening again in the future. The Brazilian veteran is expected to have the stitches removed in two weeks and be cleared to spar in six weeks.

The decision loss against Covington dropped dos Anjos’ record to 3-1 since moving up to the welterweight division. The Niteroi native, who will turn 34 in October and become a father for the third time this fall, hopes to be fight again in 2018.