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The Octagon finished abruptly on Saturday night when Tom Aspinall‘s heavyweight title defense bout against Ciryl Gane ended with a double eye poke at UFC 321. Gane’s fingers found both of Aspinall’s eyes in the opening round, bloodying the champion and leaving him unable to see. Referee Jason Herzog had no choice but to wave it off as a no-contest. Aspinall, his right eye covered with an ice pack, was already pissed following the result. When the crowd booed, it upset him more because the situation made him helpless and forced him to go through with the decision. The heavyweight king’s fury matched the frustration building across the MMA community. However, nobody went harder at the UFC culture enabling these fouls than veteran Jim Miller. Jim Miller Blames PEDs for Rising Eye-Poke Epidemic in UFC Miller, who holds the UFC record for most fights, attacked the promotion’s accountability problem Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” His argument cuts straight to the bone because he bluntly stated eye pokes are part of a broken system that lets fighters get away with it. The veteran fighter has been strapped into those same gloves 46 times. He knows the deal. The gloves make it tougher to close your fist completely, sure. But they don’t force you to throw strikes with your fingers extended like spears. “There’s obviously material in the palm of your hand when you’re wearing an MMA glove and a wrap. So you can’t do ‘fine’ stuff,” Miller explained. “You’re not going to do brain surgery wearing a pair of UFC gloves, but you can close your hand and when fighters don’t close their hand, that’s when the eye-pokes happen.” Miller himself has logged nearly seven and a half hours in the Octagon. He’s never poked anyone in the eye. The same goes for Frankie Edgar, Rafael dos Anjos, and Clay Guida. “If I show up three weeks prior to a fight and I get cut, then it opens back up and the commission finds out, I’m getting suspended for that,” Miller added. “But we attack somebody’s eyeball and we don’t get even a little bit of a suspension or even a fine? It’s crazy.” He drew the contrast with PRIDE FC, where yellow cards meant instant 20% purse cuts for fouls. Fighters knew the consequences and kept their hands closed, and eye pokes were rare. Meanwhile, UFC’s win-at-all-costs culture breeds the opposite — fighters gaming every angle to keep their spot on the roster. His frustration then turned into a reality check for the promotion’s future. He said, “If it continues the way it’s going, unfortunately, we’re probably going to see someone lose an eye in the Octagon… the behavior is just going to continue. And sooner or later, something worse is going to happen.” Yes, he was upset with the result but ended his statement with a warning. He doesn’t want someone to lose his eye in the future. He feared the way things are now isn’t only unfair but can pose a risk at the same time. Folks will have different opinions, but this whole system needs urgent change. Jim Miller Says Eye Pokes Aren’t Accidental Miller didn’t stop with the interview only. Sunday, he took his rage to Instagram, posting screenshots of the unified MMA rules alongside a blistering rant. “I am very agitated, and I think you know exactly where this is going,” he began. “If only, if only stupid, dumb, professional MMA fighters could control our fingers, right?”
