MMA fans react to the brutal eye poke Justin Tafa suffered at UFC Jacksonville

Justin TafaJustin Tafa had a brief yet disastrous trip to the Octagon on Saturday night as the promotion returned to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for UFC Jacksonville. Tafa was scheduled for a main card appearance against heavyweight debutant Austen Lane, and things started off well for the heavyweight scrappers. Throwing heavy leather in the early […]

Justin Tafa

Justin Tafa had a brief yet disastrous trip to the Octagon on Saturday night as the promotion returned to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for UFC Jacksonville.

Tafa was scheduled for a main card appearance against heavyweight debutant Austen Lane, and things started off well for the heavyweight scrappers. Throwing heavy leather in the early going, it looked as though fans would be in for a real treat. However, things took a turn for the tragic just 29 seconds into the matchup when Tafa threw a looping counter-left and was met with a finger directly to his right eye. Though unintentional, it was an especially egregious foul as the slow-motion replay clearly showed that Lane’s finger went at least one knuckle deep into Tafa’s eye socket.

The contest was immediately paused, and things began to look especially serious when fans saw Justin Tafa’s eye begin to drip blood and swell profusely. To his credit, Tafa used his full five minutes in an attempt to recover, but with his sight compromised, the referee had no choice but to call for a stoppage, dubbing the bout a no-contest.

Many fans were horrified at the sight, likening it to the brutal eye poke Belal Muhammad suffered against current welterweight world champion Leon Edwards in 2021. Bro, take this guy to the hospital ASAP, before he loses his sight,” MMA coach Eric Nicksick tweeted in response to the incident.

MMA Twitter Reacts to Justin Tafa’s Nasty Eye Injury from UFC Jacksonville

Justin Tafa suffers horrifying injury following unintentional eye-poke – UFC Jacksonville Highlights

Justin TafaHeavyweight standout Justin Tafa suffered one of the nastiest eye-pokes in recent memory, forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the bout a mere 29 seconds in at UFC Jacksonville. Things started off fast and furious between Tafa and UFC debutant Austen Lane in their main card clash on Saturday. During the exchange that ultimately ended […]

Justin Tafa

Heavyweight standout Justin Tafa suffered one of the nastiest eye-pokes in recent memory, forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the bout a mere 29 seconds in at UFC Jacksonville.

Things started off fast and furious between Tafa and UFC debutant Austen Lane in their main card clash on Saturday. During the exchange that ultimately ended things early, Lane threw a big right hand which prompted Tafa to counter with a looping left over the top. In an attempt to defend, Lane raised his left hand, which was wide open, and appeared to get at least one knuckle deep into Tafa’s right eye. The bout was immediately paused, and Tafa was given a full five minutes in an attempt to recover, but during that time, his eye began to bleed and swell significantly.

Tafa repeatedly advised the cageside physician that he was unable to see, prompting the referee to call for the stoppage less than a minute into the matchup.

Official Result: Justin Tafa vs. Austen Lane ruled a no-contest at 0:29 of Round 1 following an unintentional eye-poke.

Check Out Highlights from Justin Tafa vs. Austen Lane at UFC Jacksonville:

MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes Of The Week (2/5-2/11)

Welcome to this week’s edition of MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes of the week! Every week there’s highlight-reel finishes all across the MMA world, and we’ve found some of the absolute best ones to showcase. Last week was a busy one on the MMA calendar, with…

Welcome to this week’s edition of MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes of the week! Every week there’s highlight-reel finishes all across the MMA world, and we’ve found some of the absolute best ones to showcase. Last week was a busy one on the MMA calendar, with plenty of regional action going on in addition to…

Continue Reading MMA News’ Top 10 Finishes Of The Week (2/5-2/11) at MMA News.

Justin Tafa slams bonus snub: “Like a walkout KO should be automatic.”

Justin Tafa, UFC 284UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa (6-3) had a walk-off knockout at UFC 284 but didn’t leave RAC Arena with a performance bonus.  The 29-year-old secured a 66-second first-round KO against Parker Porter. Despite his highlight-reel KO, Tafa didn’t receive a $50,000 performance bonus.  Instead, Peth’s Jack Della Maddalena and Yair Rodriguez took home Performance of the […]

Justin Tafa, UFC 284

UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa (6-3) had a walk-off knockout at UFC 284 but didn’t leave RAC Arena with a performance bonus. 

The 29-year-old secured a 66-second first-round KO against Parker Porter. Despite his highlight-reel KO, Tafa didn’t receive a $50,000 performance bonus. 

Instead, Peth’s Jack Della Maddalena and Yair Rodriguez took home Performance of the Night honors. Maddalena secured a first-round submission against Randy Brown while Yair Rodriguez submitted Josh Emmett in the second round to capture the interim UFC featherweight title. Islam Makhachev versus Alexander Volkanovski won Fight of the Night. 

Justin Tafa Believed He Was Deserving of $50K

Tafa believes his showing was deserving of a bonus. He took to Twitter to express his thoughts on being left out of the bonus pool. 

No 50K?,” Tafa said. “Like a walkoff should be automatic.”

The Auckland native has now won back-to-back fights. All of his six wins have come by KO.

Jon Jones Deletes Tweet Of Encouragement After Wild UFC 284 KO

Jon Jones didn’t take long to delete his tweet praising UFC heavyweight Parker Porter just seconds before his loss to Justin Tafa at UFC 284. Porter and Tafa battled on the UFC 284 main card on Saturday in Perth, Australia. It was a matchup of tw…

Jon Jones didn’t take long to delete his tweet praising UFC heavyweight Parker Porter just seconds before his loss to Justin Tafa at UFC 284. Porter and Tafa battled on the UFC 284 main card on Saturday in Perth, Australia. It was a matchup of two heavyweights who are often involved in quick outings inside…

Continue Reading Jon Jones Deletes Tweet Of Encouragement After Wild UFC 284 KO at MMA News.

UFC 284 Octagon Interviews: Islam Makhachev Is The P4P King

It took a few fights for UFC 284 to really get rolling, but by the time the main card kicked off the Australian crowd was primed for some fantastic fights to close out the night. As always, the in-cage interviews following some of the performances prov…

It took a few fights for UFC 284 to really get rolling, but by the time the main card kicked off the Australian crowd was primed for some fantastic fights to close out the night. As always, the in-cage interviews following some of the performances provided some interesting comments ranging from individual callouts to warnings…

Continue Reading UFC 284 Octagon Interviews: Islam Makhachev Is The P4P King at MMA News.