UFC lightweight champ Charles Oliveira was accused of illegally pulling on Dustin Poirier's glove as he defended his belt last night at UFC 269.
The dirty trick, which was also infamously used by Conor McGregor in his rematch against Poirier at UFC 257 in January, is against the sport's rules, and could result in the fight being temporarily stopped if spotted by the referee.
But referee Herb Dean, who the night prior had been awarded the "Referee of the Year" at the World MMA Awards, didn't see the infraction in real time, Mirror UK reports.
The foul was pointed out on the fight's broadcast by commentator Joe Rogan, who drew attention to it as Oliveira was getting Poirier down to the ground in the second round.
"He's holding on to the glove in an illegal way," Rogan noted during the broadcast. "See the way he's pulling the glove like that, he cuffed his fingers underneath the gloves to achieve that position.
"We'd have to look at it real closely but in my eyes that's what was happening."
Oliveira won the round in dominant fashion after having taken a brutal beating in the first, but it wasn't enough to finish the fight.
The finish instead came in the third when he managed to manoeuvre his way to Poirier's back and lock in a rear naked choke, the same submission that cost the veteran his last title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019.
Poirier said that he didn't recall if the finger in his glove made an impact, but said his coach was surprised that he rolled at that point in the second round.
"Mike Brown [Poirier's coach] was asking me when we got back to the locker room why I didn't just slide my arm out," Poirier explained after the fight.
"I don't know, I don't remember the finger in the gloves but I was trying to pull my arm out and it felt like it was in there good,
"Mike did ask me in the locker room after why didn't I just pull my arm out - I tried, but I don't know if his fingers were in my glove or not, I didn't feel it."
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