“Waiting till people lose more eyes” – UFC event’s eye-poke controversy draws furious reply from former champ Aljamain Sterling

If one thinks getting into combat sports would be easy – one would be wrong. Notwithstanding the rigor of musculature and strain on the body, there are other factors as well. Factors that can cause much bodily harm! From strained muscles to dislocated or torn tendons to chronic infection; and eye pokes as well. The promotion’s history has a multitude of eye-poking incidents. Concurrently, former champion Aljamain Sterling has weighed on one such incident at UFC Vegas 85.

This comes in judgment to Aliaskhab Khizriev vs. Makhmud Muradov, this Saturday. UFC Apex in Las Vegas hosted the UFC Fight Night 235 (ESPN+) where the eye poke resulted in the said stoppage in the very first round. ‘The Funk Master’ Sterling finds no funk in the ridiculous discourse of such accidents. Taking to his X account, the fighter wrote:

Eye pokes suck man. We need to curve these gloves indefinitely already. Are we waiting until people lose a couple more eyes first?

Aljamain Sterling on X

UFC has many characteristic eye pokes in its long history. From Chris Gutierrez‘s iconic rant to a heckler dissing his accidental eye poke. To Mohammed Usman‘s UFC Vegas 79 incident for which he faced much trolling. Consequently, Sterling had previously also responded to Belal Muhammad’s eye-poke accident against Leon Edwards; a very notable affair. While the UFC Vegas 21 poke was a serious one, others are considerably of low gravitas.

Darren Till‘s accidental poke almost made him pull out from UFC 282. Meanwhile, Sean O’Malley’s poke to Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 was a light one for which ‘Suga’ prescribed a new gloves structure. Notably, a a lot of peers, along with O’Malley and his former bantamweight rival Aljamain Sterling advocate for such changes.

Aliaskhab Khizriev vs. Makhmud Muradov incurs accidental eye poke at UFC Vegas 85

Eye pokes in combat sports are no new thing. The latest in a long string of incidents came at UFC Vegas 85. Aliaskhab Khizriev vs. Makhmud Muradov was declared a no-decision in Round 1, at the 0:11 mark.

Afterwards, UFC 300’s featherweight debutant Aljamain Sterling took to social media to voice his angst over the matter. In his tenure as the previous 135lbs titleholder, the fighter has seen his fair share of such accidents.

The promotion usually used their standard take on MMA Gloves (5oz) – fingerless ones, by Venum Sports. During the new ‘Countdown‘ to UFC 287 vlog special, fighter Gilbert Burns was visible sporting the new debuting model of the gloves, that supposedly promised fewer eye-poking incidents.

However with the fingers curving out and extending outwards, even a slight jab connect still results in poking. And it thus claimed its newest victim.

The middleweight fight on the main card of UFC Apex broke the promotion’s record for the fastest NC after Khizriev (14-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) punched Muradov (26-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in the eye. Referee Herb Dean called a time-out and brought in the cage-side doctor. Muradov told Dean via translator that he couldn’t see. Significant, immediate swelling around his eye supported his claim.

Later, the likes of Aljamain Sterling and other peers voiced their concerns over the incident yet again. Only time will tell if any substantial changes ever get implemented.

In case you missed it:

• “That’s unfortunate for both,” Adrian Yanez, Luke Thomas and more react to Sean O’Malley’s eye poke of Pedro Munhoz leading to no-contest
• “He has big history of moves like that,” Tony Ferguson blames Bobby Green’s ‘vision-impairing’ eye poke for UFC 291 loss

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