Skip to main content

Justin Tafa says he's 'cleared of any major damage' from brutal eye poke at UFC on ABC 5

It appears UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa dodged a bullet.

Tafa was the victim of a brutal eye poke this past Saturday at UFC on ABC 5 in Jacksonville, Fla., resulting in a no contest with Austen Lane just 29 seconds into the fight. Lane’s fingers inadvertently jammed into both of Tafa’s eyes for one of the most egregious eye pokes in UFC history.

When the foul happened, referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in and called timeout. Lane was warned, and Tafa was allotted five minutes to recover, but there was no way given the severity of the damage in the moment.

Roughly 48 hours later, Tafa provided an update on social media, and it appears he avoided a worst-case scenario.

“Cleared of any major damage to both eyes but both eyes did suffer some damage,” Tafa tweeted. “Right eye still in some pain, sensitive to light and blurred vision on the (left) but I thank God nothing that was going to end my career or cause serious damage to my eye.”

The accident caused a disappointing conclusion to the fight for both Lane (12-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Tafa (6-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC). Lane, a former NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was making his UFC debut in front of fans who used to cheer for him on the gridiron. Tafa, out of Australia, was seeking to extend his winning streak to three.

The good news for Tafa is that he will likely get that shot after not suffering permanent damage despite how awful the injury looked.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 5.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/LTsdafj
via IFTTT

Labels

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...
Read more

Henry Cejudo: 'I still don't see Sean O'Malley as the best in the world' ahead of UFC 299

Henry Cejudo is not sold on Sean O'Malley as UFC bantamweight champion. O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) knocked out Aljamain Sterling to become 135-pound champion at UFC 292, whereas Cejudo is coming off a close title loss to Sterling at UFC 288 . O’Malley will make his first title defense against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 headliner on March 9, and Cejudo is still adamant that “Chito” beats O’Malley again – despite being a sizable underdog. “I still don’t see Sean O’Malley as the best in the world,” Cejudo said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel . “I don’t. I do believe ‘Chito’ Vera is going to beat him. You have good defense, you walk that dude down, you kick his freaking legs – he still has that wide leg – you kick his legs, you just bring the fight to him and grit. “This is what Sean O’Malley will do: He’ll look at the clock because he throws a lot of power. He is precise, but he throws a lot of it. I would bet the house on ‘Chito.’ Once I beat Merab (Dvalishvili), I’m goi...
Read more

Jim Miller had no problem accepting short-notice replacement Jared Gordon: 'Business as usual'

LAS VEGAS – With over 50 professional MMA fights, Jim Miller has been through it all, which has brought a level of comfort few have in this sport. That’s why when the UFC called with Jared Gordon as a replacement opponent for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 45, Miller (35-17 MMA, 24-16 UFC) had no problem saying yes. At this point, there’s little the UFC lightweight veteran hasn’t seen, and he expects to be ready Saturday. “(It’s) business as usual,” Miller told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 45 news conference. “That’s three in a row that opponents drop out like two weeks or less for the event. And I think it’s a total of nine times in my career with the UFC, so more like 25 percent. But yeah, business as usual. “I train to be the best fighter that I can be every out. At this point I’ve fought everybody from the top lanky 6’4” lefties, to guys my height, and righties and grapplers. So I just appreciated when guys are willing to step up because there are a lot of fighters that say...
Read more