Kiel Hauley, 33, Jonas Marcius, 23, and Adrian Morley, 33, deny assaulting and murdering Craig Grant, of Inverurie, outside the Galleria shopping centre in August last year.
Witness Shaun Wheeldon said he saw Mr Grant being held on the pavement.
He said he was "shocked" to see Mr Grant's face was light grey.
Mr Wheeldon told the High Court in Aberdeen he could see two men restraining Mr Grant on the ground outside Tonik and stopped to speak to a bouncer.
He said:  "He just said he had been in the club and he was highly drunk."
Mr Wheeldon said there was "quite a commotion" outside the bar with a lot of people standing outside.
Advocate depute James Keegan QC asked: "How did you react when you saw his face?"
He replied: "I was shocked at the colour of him. He was light grey."
Mr Keegan asked: "When you saw the colour of him what did you think?"
He replied: "That he was in a bad way."
He said Mr Grant's friends were trying to intervene when police arrived at the scene because he had shown no response on the ground.
He told the court police took over and tried to sit him up.
He said: "They sat him up like a teddy bear. It wasn't a recovery position."
Mr Keegan asked: "When you say a teddy bear what do you mean by that?"
He replied: "Because he was limp."
The trial continues.
A man was limp "like a teddy bear" after he was restrained by bouncers on the ground outside an Aberdeen bar, a murder trial has heard.