The controversial eye poke that prematurely ended a highly-anticipated fight between Pedro Munhoz and Sean O’Malley at UFC 276 resulted in a scratched cornea for Munhoz, he announced early Sunday morning.
The fight was suspended during the second round when Munhoz said he was poked in the eye by O’Malley. A doctor didn’t allow for the fight to restart, calling for it to end after Munhoz said he couldn’t see out of, or even open, his eye. The fight was ruled a no contest.
The claim drew skepticism from many viewers, including several fighters, and O’Malley told reporters at a press conference that Munhoz “100 percent” wanted a way to end the fight early. Munhoz disputed those claims in a video posted to social media, saying the poke caused damage to his eye.
“To explain briefly what happened in the fight against Sean O’Malley, I was poked in the eye in the first round but kept fighting, and was hit with a low blow shortly after,” Munhoz said in Portuguese, translated by MMAFighting.com. “The fight restarted and we exchanged a few strikes. In the second round, that’s when I suffered another eye poke. I couldn’t see anything for 20 minutes. I was taken to the hospital and they used a special eyedrops that made my eye numb so they could open my eye.
“They did an exam and the medical report I have is that there’s a scratch in the cornea all the way around it. I couldn’t open my because of that and couldn’t see anything. The referee asked if I could see at all and the doctor decided to stop the fight. That’s what happened tonight.”
Munhoz won the first round on two of the three judges’ scorecards prior to the stoppage. All 26 strikes landed by Munhoz in the fight were kicks to O’Malley’s legs, while O’Malley landed 14 strikes to the head, eight to the body, and three to the legs.
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