(Photos from Al Bello/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
After earning his fourth straight victory by unanimous decision in Toronto last Saturday night at UFC 129, welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre apologized to the fans for a disappointing performance against opponent Jake Shields. The French-Canadian fighter noted that he was hit in the left eye in the second round, and wasn’t able to see out of the eye for the rest of the fight.
St-Pierre was sent to the hospital to have his eye checked immediately after the bout and was not available to take questions at the post-fight press conference.
St-Pierre’s head trainer Firas Zahab told MMAWeekly.com that their was concern that the eye injury was a detached retina, but it turned out to be just blood in the eye and that St-Pierre would be fine.
“The doctors were very worried it was a detached retina because they couldn’t see inside his eye. 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 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.”