Essex MMA star Jack Mason suffered a gruesome cut in his defeat to Hakon Foss at Cage Warriors 93 in Sweden last night – with boxing legend Lennox Lewis taking to Twitter to call it the worst he’d ever seen.

Mason, the head coach at Colchester’s BKK Fighters, returned to the cage for the first time in almost two years for his welterweight clash with Norway’s Foss.

But it didn’t go his way, with the 35-year-old getting caught by a flying knee which wobbled him, and then the resultant flurry saw ref Marc Goddard wave off hostilities in the first round.

Mason, ever the warrior, protested the stoppage with his face a mask of crimson, but with such a nasty wound opened up, it was surely the right call by the experienced ref.

Team-mate John Maguire later posted a video to Twitter showing the full horror of the gash, which has been viewed more than 150,000 times.

One of those to see it was British boxing icon Lewis, the former heavyweight world champion saying it was the worst he’d ever seen.

Mason himself saw the funny side, tweeting that he ‘needs to learn some knee defence!’

East Anglian Daily Times: Jack Mason, right, faced Hakon Foss at Cage Warriors 93 in Sweden on Saturday night. Picture: ARCHANTJack Mason, right, faced Hakon Foss at Cage Warriors 93 in Sweden on Saturday night. Picture: ARCHANT (Image: steve argent)

The veteran fighter, one of the most respected figures in UK MMA, will no doubt be back in action soon as he nears his 50th professional fight.