Gunnar Nelson was stopped for the very first time in his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career earlier today (Sun., July 16, 2017) by Santiago Ponzinibbio in the main event of UFC Fight Night 113 in Glasgow, Scotland (see it again here).
But, to hear “Gunni” tell it, it could have been avoided had he spoken up about an inadvertent eye poke that happened during an early exchange.
“I thought I was doing really well in he beginning. In the first exchange I caught him with an uppercut and he poked me in the eye,” said Nelson during the post fight press conference.
Nelson says he regrets not speaking up since he was seeing double for the remainder of the Welterweight scrap, which ultimately saw him get clipped twice with some heavy shots and go out for the count as a result.
“And I really should have said something because I was seeing double for the rest of the fight. He caught me with a shot that I didn’t really see,” he added. “They eye is really sore now but it’s just one of those things. I really should have said something and I don’t know why I didn’t. Maybe I would seen that shot that caught me, but it is what it is, you know,” concluded “Gunni.”
Indeed, upon reviewing the fight tape, you can see Nelson wipe his right eye in discomfort on multiple occasions 20 seconds into the fight, shortly after he clipped Ponzinibbio with two strikes that sent the Argentinian backwards.
Under a minute later, Nelson was on his back staring at the lights courtesy of Santiago’s heavy hands.
That said, whether he did get poked in the eye or not, you can bet Nelson’s comments won’t sit well with most fight fans, as the combat community isn’t too fond of fighters making statements such as this following a loss.
What say you, Maniacs, did you catch an eye poke and do you think it made a huge difference in the fight?
For play-by-play coverage and full results of the Fox Sports 1-televised UFC Fight Night 113 event click here.