When Li Jingliang sunk his fingers into Jake Matthews’ eye sockets, Joe Rogan couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Matthews can count his blessings that he can see at all after the incident that occurred in the second round of the UFC 221 scrap.
He had the Jingliang in a tight guillotine but the Chinese fighter was able to escape by digging two of his digits into the eyeballs. After Jingliang’s head popped out, blood was visible around Matthews’ eyes. The referee had a look, but the fight continued without any punishment being handed out.
The Aussie was reluctant to point the finger of blame after the fight. He told Jon Anik that he couldn’t fault his opponent for doing all he could to try to win. Had Matthews not taken the unanimous decision victory, he may have felt different.
It helped him escape a submission #UFC221 https://t.co/XWu3C3Zh1t
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 11, 2018
To add to the controversy, Jingliang received a $50,000 bonus for the Fight of the Night accolade. He was eligible to win performance bonuses despite the eye-pokes. Yoel Romero, who knocked out Luke Rockhold in the headliner, wasn’t able to earn a bonus after missing weight by 2.7 lbs.
Speaking on the JRE MMA Show, Joe Rogan called for action over the disgusting foul. The UFC colour commentator had the night off allowing Jimmy Smith to make a sensational promotional debut in his place. but he thinks it’s simple – cheating needs to be punished.
“I thought it was fucking bullshit. You can’t let a guy get away with that, or he’s going to do it again. … You don’t do it that way. You tap. It’s straight up cheating; it’s not just shady. It’s cheating.”
“They should tell him, ‘If this ever happens again, if you ever think you’re going to do this again, we’re going to kick you out of the league.’ You can’t do that. You can’t gouge someone’s eye when they’re choking you.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgResrM_LoA
Rogan believes the referee should have done more, but also thinks that the promotion should do something in response to the foul.
“It felt like the fingers were in long enough for him to know the fingers were in there. The referee fucked up. The UFC should do something. Someone should do something. Maybe, even in Nevada? You’ve got to look at that and go, ‘Hey man, you can’t ever do this again. And we have to fine you. You should be suspended, and if you ever do this again, you’re out.’ You can’t gouge someone’s eyes. They’ll lose their vision. We can’t have any leniency whatsoever toward intentional eye-gouging. Zero.”
Like a lot of people, Rogan believes that Jingliang should have been disqualified over the incident. He warned that if eye-pokes don’t get stamped out soon, athletes getting blinded in fights will be an inevitability.
