UFC lightweight veteran Jim Miller has chimed in with his thoughts on how to eliminate eye-poking in mixed martial arts following another instance of the foul halting a fight this past weekend.
While MMA has grown to no end since its inception and has seen its legitimacy widely accepted in the sporting world, one issue remains a prominent talking point that perhaps continues to hold it back — the manner in which fouls are dealt with.
The topic reared its head again recently after a deep eye poke rendered former two-division champion Henry Cejudo unable to continue in the main event of Saturday's UFC Fight Night in Seattle.
With referee Jason Herzog deeming Song Yadong's infringement to have been accidental, no point was deducted and the Chinese bantamweight contender exited the UFC cage inside Climate Pledge Arena as a technical decision winner.
That's left many questioning the freedom fighters are given to foul without repercussions, with Herzog specifically being slammed for not taking a point from "The Kung Fu Kid."
Miller, though, believes punishment should go above and beyond a simple blow to a fighter's hopes of edging the scorecards.
"It’s not the gloves, it’s the culture. The shameless, win at all costs mentality amongst fighters and the 'eye pokes are an accident and not a foul' mentality most people seem to have," Miller wrote on X. "The good news is that we can change the culture. Penalize the foul immediately during the pause in action after confirming a strike or post was thrown with outstretched fingers. I believe not only a point deduction but also a purse deduction would have a rapid effect on how many pokes we see. I’ve come to these conclusions after being taped into those gloves 45 times, totaling over 7 hours inside the Octagon, landing over 1200 significant strikes (none of which were thrown with extended fingers, and I also slept at a Holiday Inn Express a few times."
Similar debates have been had regarding fence grabs and low blows, both of which frequently go unpunished inside the UFC Octagon.