Outside Source
Belal Muhammad took on Ian Garry at UFC Qatar last month. While Garry (17-1) beat Muhammad (24-5) via unanimous decision, the fight was marred with controversy. Garry went unpunished for poking Muhammad in the eye several times.
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Muhammad partly blames his loss on the eye pokes. “Remember the Name” believes Garry deliberately poked him in the eye early on and repeated it when he was not penalized. Muhammad becomes the latest UFC fighter to call for stricter repercussions for eye pokes in MMA.
Repercussions Needed?
“What did we see in the fight?” Muhammad said on YouTube. “Obviously, we didn’t see much, got poked in the eye three times… I said Ian was very smart at figuring out ways to win fights. He understood that poking in the eye was going to win the fight, especially when you do it early, especially when you don’t get points taken away from you. The rules need to be changed, there needs to be repercussions. Otherwise, guys are going to keep doing it! What’s the point?”
Muhammad was coming off an upset title loss against Jack Della Maddalena that ended an 11-fight unbeaten streak. The former welterweight champ is the latest victim of eye pokes, which have recently become rampant in MMA.
Tom Aspinall’s first heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane ended in a no-contest after the Frenchman double eye-poked Aspinall in the first round at UFC 321 this past October. In a dramatic turn of events, Aspinall’s teammate Ante Delija poked Waldo Cortes-Acosta a week later. However, Cortes-Acosta went on to win via first-round knockout despite the gruesome eye poke. UFC head honcho Dana White and referee Herb Dean have hinted that measures are being taken to potentially reduce eye pokes in MMA.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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