Todd Duffee was seeking a glorious return to MMA after four-and-a-half away, but he was forced to settle for a disappointing no contest against Jeff Hughes.
The heavyweight bout was part of the UFC on ESPN+ 16 main card at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The event streamed on ESPN+.
Both men were patient to start the contest, though Duffee didn’t take long to explode forward with powerful punches. Hughes covered well, so Duffee backed away and reset, then briefly turned to grappling in the clinch. With nothing there, Duffee again started to unleash heavy punches, but Hughes took it well and offered countered when possible.
Hughes was able to draw blood with a left hand, but it was on Duffee’s cheek and didn’t seem to bother him too much. A Duffee right hand clearly stunned Hughes, but he dug deep and continued to battle in the clinch. As they worked in tight, Hughes’ right hand seemed to dig into Duffee’s left eye, and he recoiled at the infraction.
Time was immediately called, and as the referee and then attending doctor each checked on Duffee (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), he revealed he was seeing double, leaving officials no choice but to call off the fight and rule it a no contest, declaring the Hughes (10-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) foul unintentional.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 16 results include:
- Todd Duffee vs. Jeff Hughes declared a no contest (accidental eye poke) – Round 1, 4:03
- Tristan Connelly def. Michel Pereira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
- Uriah Hall def. Antonio Carlos Junior via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Misha Cirkunov def. Jim Crute via submission (Peruvian necktie) – Round 1, 3:38
- Augusto Sakai def. Marcin Tybura via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:59
- Miles Johns def. Cole Smith via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Hunter Azure def. Brad Katona via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
- Chas Skelly def. Jordan Griffin via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Louis Smolka def. Ryan MacDonald via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 4:43
- Austin Hubbard def. Kyle Prepolec via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
