It’s time to make some changes.

Eye pokes. It’s perhaps the most dreaded of all the infractions experienced in MMA. Don’t get me wrong, getting hit to the groin is a horrible feeling, it’s happened enough times for me to save that it really doesn’t feel too great. That being said, getting an eye poke, especially during competition, can truly be a game changer. With low blows you’re given five minutes to recover, a time that is almost never fully used by a professional fighter thanks in part to toughness and the protective gear provided. Eye pokes however aren’t lent the same weight despite the fact that it is far more detrimental to deal with. At UFC Fight Night 81 we saw a prime example of why eye pokes can be so harmful and why changes need to be made to the system. Travis Browne was squared off against Matt Mitrione on the undercard of the event in a heavyweight bout. The first round saw the underdog Mitrione take the fight to Browne, winning the round on most analyst score cards. Then came the eye pokes. With two separate and painful actions in which Travis Browne fingers lodged into Matt Mitrione’s eye socket, the fight was completely changed. Doctors were sent into the cage to examine Mitrione’s eye and like the true competitor he is decided to move forward with the fight. But it’s at this time that the onus is on the athletic commission’s medical staff as well as the referee to make the decision to protect the fighter rather than just let the fight continue. Mitrione admitted that he was seeing double which is a major sign that serious damage was done. The damage from the poke changed the complexion of the fight drastically. It was also clear that the fighter wouldn’t give up the fight so easily in the hopes that he could still gain victory. Unfortunately for him it wasn’t in the cards as Travis Browne used the opportunity to overwhelm Mitrione with strikes in the third frame of the contest. No one is accusing Browne of any intentional wrong doing, but the fact that the referee didn’t take a point from him or choose to stop the fight in favor of protecting the fighter shows incompetence that shouldn’t be overlooked. Yes, fighting is admittedly a somewhat barbaric way to make a living and obvious physical damage will be suffered by at least one of the two competitors, but that doesn’t change the fact that infractions like eye pokes need to be treated with more weight and concern. It can be as simple as letting the fighter have five minutes to recover much like a groin shot. Or, as Mitrione suggested while on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour, a no contest should have been issued. If you want to see Matt Mitrione’s interview with Ariel you can watch in the video below. https://youtu.be/4LjMBD8Kutw?t=3512 The bottom line is that rules are put in place for a reason, to protect the fighter sometimes even from themselves. But if we want to see the sport grow then some rules need to be changed, others excluded and even others added to make the sport evolve. What is your stance on eye pokes in MMA? Let us know in the comments and forums. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron MMA on Facebook and Twitter. Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor and geek culture enthusiast. Follow him on Twitter and keep up with his latest exploits.