“A10” had the perfect solution for the eye-poke epidemic.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall retained his title against Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 321 last night (Sat., Oct. 25, 2025) after their bout was ruled a no-contest when Aspinall was unable to continue following a nasty eye poke inside Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi (watch it).
Every single week, there’s at least one eye poke inside the Octagon, and the problem isn’t getting any better.
But according to Jim Miller — who has fought 43 times in the UFC without ever poking anyone in the eye — it’s not the gloves. It’s the fighters.
Earlier this year, Miller posted a video ranting about eye pokes while offering a fix to the problem.
“You wanna know a secret? I’ve got hours inside the Octagon wearing these gloves, it’s not the gloves,” Miller said on his Instagram in February. “Look, I can close my fist, I can bend the ends of my fingers without the glove even moving, so if it was the glove that held my hand open, I could still [bend my fingers]. But most of these eye pokes are [from fighters straighening their fingers], my hand is not getting held open like that, are you f—king kidding me?
“What causes the eye pokes is the little bitch inside that’s being passive and avoiding the fight and not being aggressive,” Miller added. “And that little voice needs to get punished by an immediate point being taken away, and in my opinion, a portion of the purse, and then I think you would see them stop, real quick.”
It’s rare for a referee to immediately take a point for an eye poke, but Miller makes a great point — and it’s something MMA fans (and this writer) have been saying for years: automatic point deductions would fix most of these fouls overnight.
Grab the fence? One point
Kick someone in the balls? One point
Poke an eye? One point.
Seems like an easy fix … yet somehow, it’s still one of the hardest things in the sport to get right.
For complete UFC 321 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.
