Paddy Pimblett: Justin Gaethje should have been penalized for eye pokes at UFC 324

Paddy
Pimblett believes his fight against Justin
Gaethje might have played out differently had fouls been aptly
penalized. 

Pimblett (23-4) and Gaethje (27-5) fought for the vacant
lightweight title in the main event at UFC 324
last month in Las Vegas. Gaethje handed Pimblett a beating en route
to a unanimous decision victory. However, the fight wasn’t entirely
devoid of controversy. 

Gaethje received a stern warning for poking Pimblett in the eye in
the first round. Gaethje also dropped Pimblett late in the second
round and “The Baddy” was barely saved by the bell. But replay
showed that Gaethje blatantly poked Pimblett in the eye before
dropping him in the second round. However, despite the previous
warning, Gaethje didn’t have a point taken away.  Pimblett
notes that the most damage he received from Gaethje was after he
got poked in the eye and then dropped. The Liverpudlian came back
strong and went on to went on to win the third round on all three of the judges’
scorecards. Pimblett wonders what might have happened had he
not been poked in the eye in the second round and received all the
damage that he did.

Clear in Hindsight

“He had already been warned about it so I feel like he should have
had a point taken right away… That won him the round, the
ground-an- pound,” Pimblett said on YouTube. “[The eye poke] is
what put all the damage on me. You can see me blinking. That won
him the round, that round was still up for grabs. ..I don’t want to
sound like a sore loser but that changes the whole fight. I came
out [after the eye poke] and easily win the third round, so imagine
it never happened in a second.”