“They’re gangsters on computers.”
Pedro Munhoz hasn’t fully recovered from his UFC 276 eye poke from Sean O’Malley. The number nine bantamweight contender appeared on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour to give an update on his eye.
“Today, I’m able to open my eyes, as you can see, and I see … very clear in the middle, but in both extremes, I still see super dark and not clear, like blurry-eyed,” Munhoz told Ariel Helwani via video interview.
At UFC Host hotel this morning. Just saw @PedroMunhozmma . For all you doubters out there, his eye is swollen shut. Went to hospital last night and eye is scratched. This shit is real. BTW- he said he knows it was an accident and has nothing but respect for Sean.
— Reed Harris (@reedharrisufc) July 4, 2022
The Brazilian also wasn’t pleased with his opponent’s post-fight actions, especially after the cordial and seemingly respectful moment they had in the Octagon after everything happened.
“A lot of his actions after the fight were things that I don’t think is right, based on my values,” he said. “Like he came and apologized to me, and then he go and go make a video on TikTok, make fun of my vision there.
“So you apologize to me for poking me [then do that]? Because he realized, he came up to me, like, ‘I didn’t mean to poke you in the eye.’ I say, ‘I know you didn’t mean to poke me in the eye.’ I say, ‘We can run these back anytime,’ and he said, ‘You’re a legend.’ I say thank you, and then I told his coach [Tim Welch] and he was very nice to me, and he says, ‘Let’s run this back.’ I said, ‘Let’s run this back.’
“But then you go make fun [of it]? That’s kind of like, things that I tell my kids not to do it. You say one thing but then you go make fun on the other hand,” he continued. “I came up to a generation, like the one before his generation … I’m not going to go and make of someone just to get more followers and stuff like that.
“And besides that, all his friends, all these guys texting me, talking about my wife, talking about my family, saying that they’re going to fight me. And guess what? I told them, I say, ‘You can find me. I’ll be by the pool here Sunday.’”
Munhoz continued to criticize team O’Malley for how they handled the situation.
“They’re gangsters on computers,” he said. “So that’s the type of stuff that I say I don’t agree with, and that was something that was new for me — fighting some kid from a generation that makes these shows look like a circus.
“When I grew up watching B.J. Penn, Frankie Edgar, José Aldo, fought all of these guys, Dominick Cruz, and now I just feel that I was in the circus.”
The 35-year-old Munhoz also responded to O’Malley’s comments saying he was “looking for a way out.”
“For me, chasing me, he does that move [pointing his fingers outstretched], and so I get blamed for something that he did, you know? And all of a sudden, I want out? That doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “
“And when people say something, the opposite, it just shows like how many stupid people are out there, and ignorant, a bunch of haters. If they are fighters, they probably got poked in the gym before in training. I did.
“But in that sense, to cut my cornea, was the first time. So I think people that will judge, they see a situation like that, but [they’re] not putting [themselves in] my shoes. They’re just ignorant.”
After UFC 276, Munhoz’s record is now at 19-7 (with 2 NCs).