Jeremy Stephens traveled to Mexico several weeks in advance so he could train at altitude at his own expense for his UFC on ESPN+ 17 main event against Yair Rodriguez in Mexico City.
That turned out to be a lot of effort for a 15-second fight.
Rodriguez (11-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) hit Stephens (28-16 MMA, 15-15 UFC) with an open-fingered swipe that landed in Stephens’ left eye in the first exchange of the featherweight matchup. After the full 5 minutes to recover elapsed, the bout was ruled a no contest, leading to an ugly scene in which bottles and debris were thrown into the octagon at Mexico City Arena.
“I apologize a great deal,” Rodriguez said through an interpreter. “We both trained very hard for this fight. Everyone spent a lot of money to come down and see us compete and support us. I feel very bad about this. Let’s do this again.”
Via Twitter, here’s a glimpse of the ugly scene following the fight:
Referee Herb Dean did everything within his authority to let Stephens continue after Stephens took the eye rake. Dean repeatedly reminded Stephens he could take the full 5 minutes allotted under the rules and made the cageside doctor aware, as well.
Stephens admitted “he got me good,” referring to Rodriguez’s poke, and his eye looked practically glued shut when the allotted time ran out, giving Dean no choice but to wave things off and call the no contest.
The crowd let its displeasure be known, which wasn’t helped by Rodriguez getting angry and having to be held back by security. But he calmed down, and the fans eventually did, as well.
The no contest, the first for both competitors, leaves Rodriguez on a two-fight winning streak, and Stephens on a two-fight losing streak.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 17 results include:
- Yair Rodriguez vs. Jeremy Stephens declared no contest (accidental eye poke) – Round 1, 0:15
- Carla Esparza def. Alexa Grasso via majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Askar Askarov vs. Brandon Moreno declared split draw (28-28, 29-28 Askarov, 30-27 Moreno)
- Irene Aldana def. Vanessa Melo via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Steven Peterson def. Martin Bravo via knockout (spinning backfist) – Round 2, 1:31
- Jose Quinonez def. Carlos Huachin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Kyle Nelson def. Marco Polo Reyes via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:36
- Angela Hill def. Ariane Carnelossi via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 3, 1:56
- Sergio Pettis def. Tyson Nam via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Paul Craig def. Vinicius Moreira via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:19
- Bethe Correia def. Sijara Eubanks via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Claudio Puelles def. Marcos Mariano via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-25)
