UFC
No detached retina, UFC Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre can return to training in 10 days
May 3, 2011 - 1:10:12 PM No detached retina, UFC Welterweight Champ Georges St. Pierre can return to training in 10 days

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Georges St. Pierre's eye injury, suffered in his fight with Jake Shields at UFC 129, isn't as serious as feared. According to St. Pierre's head trainer Firas Zahabi, the UFC Welterweight Champion was initially feared to have a detached retina after being examined by doctors.

"The doctors were very worried it was a detached retina because they couldn't see inside his eye," Zahabi said in comments made to MMAWeekly.com. "They flashed the light inside his eye and normally they're supposed to be able to see inside the eye, but the eye was filled with obstructions. The doctor was saying he couldn't see inside, so he needed to go to a specialist. Luckily it was just blood in the eye and not the detached retina. This occurred after the swipe to the face."

The swipe to the face came in the third round of the fight, where an open hand strike from Shields caught St. Pierre in his left eye. From there on out, St. Pierre was visibly bothered and told his corner after both the third and fourth round that he couldn't see out of his left eye. Zahabi believes Shields should have at the very least been warned by the referee in the fight and St. Pierre should have been given a chance to recover.

"When he threw that open handed hook, that was recorded, I complained to the ref immediately," Zahabi said. "I saw it, I completely saw it. I complained about it immediately to the referee that it was an open hand swipe to the face."

"I don't think it was intentional, but I mean it still happened, and he should get a warning and it should be kept in mind that he's punching with an open hand. It's not right, it's very dangerous."

St. Pierre's vision was fully obstructed by the blood that built up after the poke, but St. Pierre gutted it out through the remainder of the fight and held on to take the unanimous decision. Now, after seeing a specialist, the champion received some good news.

"I knew his depth perception would be compromised, but I didn't know to what extent. Later, when we did the examination on his eye, his vision was very much obstructed... [But] the doctors are saying he's going to have a complete recovery. I'm really happy with that. He just can't do any training for 10 days, he has medication to take, and he has to do this treatment, and then they're going to reassess him in 10 days, but they say he's going to make a full recovery."

Link to Original Source Article

Penick's Analysis: This is great news. St. Pierre's eye was severely impacted in that fight, and it was clear from the moment the poke happened that he was having major trouble with it. But thankfully it's not a more serious situation, and with him being able to return to training in 10 days it's certainly a lot better than it could have been. It also means he'll be able to return a lot sooner than would have otherwise been possible, keeping a bout with Nick Diaz in play for sometime this year.