LAS VEGAS – An apparent eye poke cost Francisco Rivera dearly in his UFC 181 fight against Urijah Faber on Saturday night.
Rivera was holding his own against the former WEC featherweight champion in the second round of their bantamweight bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center when he caught an inadvertent finger in the eye from Faber.
Referee Mario Yamasaki didn’t catch the eye poke. Faber, perhaps not realizing it was a foul, followed up and finished off the fight in short order. Faber won via rear-naked choke at 1:34 of the second round.
“You know what, watching the replay I saw it was definitely in the eye,” Faber said. “I didn’t know it at the time. But I got the finish. He fought a great fight. That was an ugly kind of win.”
With the victory, Faber (32-7) remains undefeated in non-title fights in his career, improving to 21-0. It was his sixth victory in his past seven fights. Rivera (10-4, 1 NC) lost his second consecutive fight.
More Coverage: UFC 181 Results | UFC news
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