...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
There was a very scary moment during the co-main event at UFC 159 on Saturday night, as Alan Belcher got caught with an eye poke from Michael Bisping late in the third round and just crumbled in pain. Eye pokes like that always lead to serious concern, but what made that particular eye poke scary was the fact that Belcher's career was nearly ended just a couple of short years ago because of a detached retina.
When the camera showed Belcher bleeding from the eye the level of concern ratcheted up another notch, and regardless of how the fight played out, all thoughts were on Belcher and his health, hoping this wasn't a career ending incident.
Thankfully, it seems he avoided real damage to the eye itself, as he got caught on the eyelid, which led to the extensive bleeding. It's a somewhat similar incident to what happened to Randy Couture in a bout against Vitor Belfort a decade ago, where he got his eyelid sliced by Belfort's glove. This was a finger, but a similar incident, and Belcher said on Sunday that he was alright despite requiring eight stitches.
I'm ok.. Just got back from e.r.8 stitches in eyelid. Disappointed. To my real supporters, I'm sorry, thank you once again.
Penick's Analysis: Belcher suffered another career setback in that loss to Michael Bisping on Saturday, but thankfully it wasn't more severe than that. Given what we know he went through with that detached retina, and how close he did come to having his career end, it would have been awful for it to happen again like that. The eye poking issue in MMA really needs to be examined, and it's not an issue of gloves at this point. It's hard to say that all of them are unintentional, because fighters continue to keep their fingers outstretched, knowing they won't be punished for the eye pokes if they happen. There needs to be a crack down on that, as fighters have gotten free reign on that front for far too long. And this isn't just against Bisping on Saturday night, because Belcher did it as well, catching Bisping with an outstretched finger early in the fight, but that also highlights why things need to change.
(Attention MMATorch app users: Make sure to upgrade to the latest edition of the MMATorch app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!)
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
