UFC star Alex Oliveira injured by grenade in Brazil

UFC welterweight Alex Oliveira was injured by a grenade in Brazil on Christmas eve. Photo / Getty Images

Brazilian UFC star Alex Oliveira was reportedly injured after a grenade exploded near him on Christmas Eve.

According to Brazilian news site Globo, "Cowboy" was celebrating the festive season in his hometown of Tres Rios — a small town not far from Rio de Janeiro. Per reports, Oliveira was driving to buy petrol for his mother's car when he saw some members of his family in an altercation.

When he stopped his car and got out to investigate, a grenade was then thrown in his direction.

Speaking to local news station TV Rio Sul, Oliveira said: "One guy came up and pointed a gun at my nephew's face, and that's when people started pushing each other.

"They had machetes, knives, a grenade. They threw a grenade in my direction. Fragments flew to my leg and my foot."

The 30-year-old said he went to hospital for minor surgery to have grenade fragments removed from his leg and reported the incident to police.

The welterweight had his last fight for the year earlier this month at UFC 231 when he was submitted in the second round by Gunnar Nelson.

Oliveira's strange injury continues a weird couple of days in the UFC after this weekend's UFC 232 card was moved from Las Vegas to near Los Angeles because an abnormality in the drug test of light heavyweight Jon Jones found small traces of a banned steroid in his system.

The substance is the same steroid Jones tested positive for in 2017 when he was slapped with a 15-month ban, and the tiny amount found ahead of his comeback fight against Alexander Gustafsson is residue left over from last year's infringement.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) would not give Jones a license to fight in Las Vegas so the UFC decided to move the event to California so the headline fight could go ahead.