Joe Rogan has absolutely no time for groin strikes or eye-pokes.
The UFC commentator spoke to Bloody Elbow, about the hot topic of foul play in the UFC, particularly eye-pokes and groin strikes, and he reckons the promotion aren’t doing enough to protect its fighters.
“I think the fouls, especially the eye pokes, need to be addressed. A lot of times when a fighter gets poked very badly and chooses to continue they get beat up. That doesn’t seem fair at all. Something radical needs to be done.”
Recently we saw Matt Mitrione suffer a horror injury after being repeatedly poked in the eye by Travis Browne. Mitrione lost the fight via TKO and moved noticeably slower after the eye-pokes. Mitrione admitted that the fouls were unintentional, but Rogan believes that fighters such as Browne should be deducted a point regardless of whether there is intent or not.
“Taking a point away isn’t enough. I firmly believe that 99.99 percent of fouls are unintentional. That said, when someone gets badly damaged, maybe where they can’t see, I don’t think one point is enough.”
This isn't a photoshop. This is UFC fighter Matt Mitrione's eye pic.twitter.com/GgM5yOzux9
— Athlete Swag (@AthleteSwag) January 18, 2016
Rogan argued that because of how much an eye-poke can change the course of the fight and how harmful they can be, the referee should be allowed to deduct a point without warning the fighter.
“They’re devastating. It’s not a small thing. It’s not worth a point. It’s worth a lot more than a point. First of all, automatic point deductions. No matter what. When a guy gets poked in the eye, ‘Oh, I know it’s unintentional.’ No. None of that. There’s no accidental. Take a point away.”
“Just because you didn’t mean to damage a guy and effectively take away some of his vision doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be penalized for it. You did it. That guy lost something so his opponent should lose something, as well. Instant point deduction.”
