Refereeing Scandals in the UFC Continue. Once Again Due to Eye Pokes

Eye pokes pose a significant threat to mixed martial arts fighters and apparently cause problems for referees in interpreting these incidents.

Details: A scandal involving a referee arose once again at a UFC event, this time at Fight Night 253. On March 2nd, a bout took place between Kazakhstan's Asu Almabayev (21-3) and Portugal's Manel Kape (21-7), but the fight ended in the third round.

Referee Mike Beltran twice failed to notice when Kape poked Almabayev in the eye, which led to vision problems for the Kazakh fighter. Ultimately, Kape won the fight by technical knockout.

This incident caught the attention of Henry Cejudo, the hero of a previous refereeing scandal, who also suffered from eye pokes a week ago by Song Yadong, who won that fight as well. Cejudo stated that eye pokes are the greatest threat to the development of this sport.

Reminder: Besides the Almabayev vs. Kape fight, the main card of the evening also featured bouts such as Cody Brundage vs. Julian Marquez, and Esteban Ribovics vs. Nasrat Haqparast.