The visual of an eye poke is never a pretty one.
Even though we’ve seen hundreds of them over the years, it’s impossible not to wince when you see someone’s finger going into someone’s eye, and Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 21 bout between Karl Roberson (9-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and highly-touted Russian prospect Roman Kopylov (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) was no different.
After a keenly-contested first two rounds were shaded (on our scorecard, at least) by Roberson, the fight looked set to potentially turn against him when a stray Kopylov finger scraped its way down Roberson’s right eye.
The blood immediately started to flow, and the UFC cameras caught sight of a grisly-looking eye as the doctor was immediately called into the cage. It seemed a mere formality that he would take one look at Roberson’s eye and wave off the bout. But after a close inspection of the wound, and a little persuading by Roberson that he was good to continue, the doctor gave the American his approval to continue.
Predictably, Kopylov immediately came out swinging, with his sights seemingly set on Roberson’s injured eye, as he looked to force a late stoppage win. But Roberson steadfastly met fire with fire and, after getting his hands on his opponent, he finished his man with a rear-naked choke for one of the gutsiest wins we’ve seen in the octagon for a while.
After the fight, Roberson admitted, “I couldn’t see all that well,” but he managed to pull out the win. It might hurt him to blink for a week or two, but at least he’s going home with his win bonus safely secured.
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
