Munhoz was poked in the eye by O’Malley.
The UFC 276 main card opener between bantamweights Pedro Munhoz and Sean O’Malley was disappointing both in terms of the expected action and the unfortunate ending. Munhoz was unable to continue after an eye poke from O’Malley hampered his vision to the point where he told the cageside doctor that he couldn’t see. The fight was ruled a no contest, but several fighters and O’Malley himself believed that Munhoz was looking for a way out in hopes of getting a disqualification win.
Munhoz has since released a statement through social media explaining what happened, as well as the extent of the injuries suffered to his right eye.
“To explain briefly what happened in the fight against Sean O’Malley, I was poked in the eye in the first round but kept fighting, and was hit with a low blow shortly after,” Munhoz said via Instagram (Portuguese translation by MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz). “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 tonight.”
As if that wasn’t enough, UFC Senior Vice President of Athlete Development and Marketing Reed Harris tweeted that he saw Munhoz’s eye was swollen shut.
At UFC Host hotel this morning. Just saw @PedroMunhozmma . For all you doubters out there, his eye is swollen shut. When to hopotal last night and eye is scratched. This shit is real. BTW- he said he knows it was an accident and h nothing but respect for Sean.
— Reed Harris (@reedharrisufc) July 3, 2022
Munhoz won the opening round on two of the three judges’ scorecards. There’s no word on whether or not the UFC will look to rematch these two once Munhoz recovers from his injury.