UFC Faces Escalating Eye Poke Controversies After Multiple Injuries, Debates Rematch

Tom Aspinall's undisputed heavyweight title defense at UFC 321 ended abruptly due to an accidental eye poke from Ciryl Gane, resulting in a no contest. A week later, Aspinall's teammate Ante Delija was involved in a similar incident when he seemingly poked Waldo Cortes-Acosta in the eye during their UFC Vegas 110 fight, which led to a referee pause and a fight restart. Cortes-Acosta went on to win by TKO after recovering and continued fighting, later calling out Aspinall for a future bout and accusing him of quitting due to his own eye poke. Delija expressed frustration over the handling of the incident, claiming the rules were not properly followed and questioning the use of instant replay in the decision-making. The repeated eye poke controversies have sparked debate about UFC's rules and penalties for such fouls, with suggestions including automatic point deductions or monetary penalties to deter fighters from committing these fouls. These back-to-back incidents highlight the need for clearer enforcement to maintain fight integrity and fairness in the UFC heavyweight division.