Eye pokes are one of the problems facing MMA commissions as they try to evolve and keep up with the sport's explosive growth. Since eye pokes happen often, some rules are already in place, but more ideas need to be implemented to help the problem.
But a problem came up at a fight in Brazil that even the most prescient commission couldn't have expected. At WOCS 25 in Brazil, a staff member used glue to fix a hanging decal from a fight banner as staff worked on Carlo Alberto Lobo after the second round of his bout with Marcos Nene. The glue dripped onto Lobo's eye. Thinking it was the Vaseline that is applied to a fighter's face to discourage cuts, he rubbed it and ending up gluing his eye shut.
Fight staff worked like crazy to open Lobo's eye back up, but it didn't work. The fight was stopped. The crazy part? They had to go the scorecards and Lobo still won.
Thanks, Middle Easy.