The Pedro Munhoz vs. Sean O’Malley pay-per-view (PPV) fight was ruled a “No Contest” by way of accidental eye poke at UFC 276 last Sat. night (July 2) in Las Vegas after “The Young Punisher” got treated like a bowling ball midway through the second stanza.
Or did he?
“It was a punch that hurt Pedro’s eye,” O’Malley wrote on social media. “TKO doctor stoppage, 16-0. Not the finish I wanted but still a finish. A nice right hand hurt his eye. Checked a lot of his leg kicks and did a lot more damage. He landed 0 head strikes 0 body strikes. Looking into the crowd seeing all the SUGA Merch was truly amazing.”
Not surprisingly, O’Malley also ruled his loss to Marlon Vera a victory for Team Sugar before declaring himself the “unranked champ.” That didn’t sit well with the rest of the 135-pound division, including the unimpressed Munhoz.
So what really happened?
Unfortunately for Munhoz, the O’Malley fans (and bettors who didn’t cash) are convinced the Brazilian used the inadvertent eye poke as an excuse to bail on the fight, perhaps forgetting “The Young Punisher” was up on the scorecards heading into round two.
O’Malley claims he was “dominating” the fight.
“I was poked in the eye in the first round but kept fighting, and was hit with a low blow shortly after,” Munhoz told his Instagram followers. “The fight restarted and we exchanged a few strikes. In the second round, that’s when I suffered another eye poke. I couldn’t see anything for 20 minutes. I was taken to the hospital and they used a special eyedrop that made my eye numb so they could open my eye. They did an exam and the medical report I have is that there’s a scratch in the cornea all the way around it. I couldn’t open my eye because of that and couldn’t see anything. The referee asked if I could see at all and the doctor decided to stop the fight. That’s what happened.”
Below is a photo of his medical report, because HIPAA laws are for chumps.
The easiest way to settle this debate? Immediate rematch!