The UFC Atlanta main card started off with a bit of a controversy. The instances of eye pokes do not seem to disappear, as it happened once again as Alonzo Menifield and Oumar Sy opened the main card at UFC Atlanta with their light heavyweight contest. Moreover, a brief interaction between ‘Atomic’ and the referee has drawn reactions from fans who didn’t seem too happy after witnessing another incident involving eye pokes.

Oumar Sy had steadily made his climb in the MMA scene after entering the UFC with a 9-0 record last year. His first year in the promotion turned out to be a great one as he secured two back-to-back wins. But in his first fight of 2025, Sy didn’t show anything special as Alonzo Menifield handed him his first professional loss after the fight went the distance.

Before the judges scored the fight 28-29, 28-29, and 28-29 in favor of Alonzo Menifield, controversy struck the fight in the very first round. High on momentum from his last fight, ‘Atomic’ was really throwing in some heavy hands and nearly came close to landing those on more occasions than one. Sy, even though he tried to fend off Menifield, he found himself back at the fence.

As the 205-pound duo started exchanging strikes once again, Alonzo Menifield was caught with an eye poke, which forced the referee, Blake Grice, to call for a timeout. As the referee tried to ask the 37-year-old if he was okay, ‘Atomic’ jokingly replied, “I see two of you… Nah, I’m just playing,” before resuming the fight. And then, he’d go on to earn a decision victory.

The fans were certainly not happy with what transpired during the fight. Not only did they take issue with the eye poke, but they also expressed their discontentment with how the matchup went down. Here’s what they had to say.

After the eye poke on Alonzo Menifield, fans want Oumar Sy out of the UFC

Yes, the fans were very rough with Oumar Sy after the eye poke he landed on Alonzo Menifield. As we all know, the whole MMA community has been talking about the recent petition to strip Jon Jones of the undisputed heavyweight title. That’s especially because he’s been inactive. But when it comes to Sy, fans want to start a petition to get rid of him from Dana White‘s promotion for his poor performance. One user on X said, “Why petition to strip Jon when we could all petition to cut Sy from the ufc?”

Then again, fans believe that Oumar Sy’s 11-0 record prior to his first loss wasn’t up to the mark. They believe that Alonzo Menifield exposed his weaknesses during their matchup at UFC Atlanta. Claiming that the community would have been better off if this fight had not opened the card, a fan tweeted, “Sy gets fraud checked. Why did the UFC decide to open the main card with that light heavyweight slop?” The disappointment with this light heavyweight matchup was apparent as another fan added, “And as soon as I talk s–t to a random about the UFC Atlanta card being good we get a f—ing snoozefest in Alonzo Menifield vs Oumar Sy alirghttttt.”

On the other hand, fans took issue with how the referee handled the eye poke situation. It wasn’t until Alonzo Menifield took some time after getting poked that the referee was prompted to take a timeout. “This referee is ridiculous. Misses the eye poke and then calls time because Menefield stops fighting and protests? Get a real enforcer in there, please,” a fan said as he called for more aware officials inside the Octagon.

Meanwhile, one fan found it hard that Menifield tried to compromise the fight when he joked with the referee about seeing double. “Why would menefield say that to the ref?” But another fan wrote, “I see you 2 of you.” Ref: “DON’T say that,” indicating that he found that interaction hilarious.

While some fans are taking aim at Oumar Sy, claiming that he got fraud-checked, there was one X user, who believed that Sy won most of the round. “Look I’m not saying this fight was all that, but you had Sy outstricke Menifield in the First round, and he had complete control on the 2nd. No way Judges just gave Menifield the match, I’m sorry,” he wrote on X. Do you agree with this assessment?

Well, fans on social media have given their judgment on the issue with this light heavyweight matchup. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.