Referees in MMA often seem hesitant to take points away from a fighter due to fouls, but that was not the case with Marc Goddard in the main event of UFC Fight Night 290.
Christian Leroy Duncan lost a point after poking Brendan Allen in the eye early in the second round of the middleweight main event at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. It was the first foul of the fight, and was immediately penalized. In many cases, fighters are given multiple warnings before a point is taken from the scorecard, but Goddard didn't give any leeway to Duncan in this instance.
"I’d like to offer some clarity on this as I believe it’s a teachable moment & gives insight into what we are doing as officials to overcome certain obstacles," Goddard wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"As referees we go over the rules one to one with fighters in the back before the fight begins, here we specifically cover potential eyes pokes. If you watch you will hear me warn CLD in round one for outstretched fingers toward the face. I then again, before the start of the next round, ask him to be careful & mindful of the hands. It is then when the eye poke occurs do I take definitive action.
"CLD is a credit to the sport of MMA & an exceptional athlete. There’s so much more, mechanically to addressing eye pokes in MMA both preventatively (before the action) and correctively (after the action) it is very hard to expect an athlete to change 20 years of training & habit with a few minutes of conversation pre fight. Just know that both myself and my colleagues know it is a firm priority to address & fix this. All respect to the athletes & our sport. Thank you."
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster explained that changes should be anticipated on how fouls are handled during a fight, especially eye pokes. Given extreme cases, such as former UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall having his career derailed due to the foul, Foster wants there to be a stronger focus on enforcing penalties for eye pokes.
Foster believes taking points more frequently is the only way to force fighters to unlearn bad behaviors is to deduct points, which greatly affects their chances of winning a decision.
While Allen ended up submitting Duncan in the fifth round, the fight would have been tied on all three judges' scorecards if not for Goddard's point deduction, which could indicate Foster's focus coming into play.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Vegas 122 referee took a point after the first foul in the main event. He explains why
