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“Nothing blurred [now]. A little pain, it’s a little light sensitive, but other than that, my vision’s all right.”
Jeremy Stephens suffered a nasty eye poke against Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 159, and fans feared the worst when ‘Lil Heathen’ said he was unable to open his left eye while back in the locker room at Mexico City’s Mexico City Arena.
Stephens revealed that he had suffered a ‘deep scratch’ and ‘deep bruise’ of his left eye but the good news is that the UFC veteran is making a quick and healthy recovery.
Speaking to MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin in a recent interview Stephens, who was bombarded with glasses and bottles of beer as he left the Octagon on Saturday, said his eye is still a ‘little sensitive’ but that his vision has fully recovered.
“Everything’s all right,” Stephens said. “I’m going to the doctor later today to get this cleared and get (an) on-the-American-soil opinion and everything’s all good. It’s a little sore. I have a laceration, a small cut over both my eyes, but all in all nothing major, which is good.
“It’s one of them little freaky things. I’ve had my eye orbital broken in the Donald Cerrone fight, and that dude is a killer. Way more fierce than the karate kid (Yair Rodriguez), and it’s just one of those weird things, I can’t explain it. I’ve been in 50 fights, amateur and pro, and it’s one of those weird things. It just sucks.
“Nothing blurred [now]. A little pain, it’s a little light sensitive, but other than that, my vision’s all right.”
Rodriguez accidentally hit Stephens with an eye poke at 0:15 of the first round and, due to Stephens not being able to open his eye, referee Herb Dean called a stop to the action and ruled the bout at No Contest (NC).
Stephens has since called for an immediate rematch with Rodriguez but believes ‘El Pantera’ will ‘b-tch out’ and run.