Islam Makhachev‘s teammate Magomed Zaynukov‘s long-awaited UFC debut ended with his hand raised, but much of the post-fight conversation had nothing to do with the Russian’s unanimous decision win at UFC Abu Dhabi tonight.

The Dana White’s Contender Series graduate defeated Damian Rzepecki 30-27 at the Etihad Arena, surviving a close first round before dominating with hard elbows and powerful strikes. However, a nasty eye poke in the opening round from Zaynukov quickly became one of the most talked-about moments of the fight, with many fans arguing the foul surely deserved harsher punishment.

The eye poke from Chanko forced a lengthy pause in the action while Rzepecki recovered. While referee Marc Goddard chose to issue a severe warning to Magomed Zaynukov, he didn’t deduct a point as was expected. But seeing how referees such as Herb Dean have already created major controversy due to being too soft, that decision quickly divided fans across the world.

“Marc Goddard gives Chanco a very stern warning for a blatant eye poke… but no point deduction,” one fan wrote on X, feeling that the punishment simply wasn’t enough considering the severity of the foul.

“Something has to be done about these eye pokes,” one viewer wrote, while another added, “No point take is genuinely insane.”

Several fans even questioned whether the foul was accidental at all.

“Dirty eye poke by Chanco,” one user wrote. Another sarcastically posted, “Couldn’t find Damian Rzepecki’s chin… so he went for the eyeball instead.”

One particularly frustrated fan claimed, “It was an eye gouge, not even a poke. It was entirely deliberate; he properly shoved his fingers deep.” Another viewer believed the illegal move shifted the momentum of the fight, “His opponent gets momentum, and so he jabs him with a nasty eye poke then takes momentum back.”

Others argued that the lack of meaningful punishment is exactly why eye pokes continue to plague the promotion, “Marc Goddard shoulda took a point! That’s why these eye pokes and fouls continue to happen, almost no consequences for the offending fighter.”

And obviously, there were also plenty of jokes aimed at Zaynukov’s popular nickname. Known to many fans as ‘John Pork,’ social media quickly renamed him “Eye Pork” following the incident.

However, it is worth noting that the controversy surrounding Zaynukov’s debut is just the latest example of a problem that many believe the UFC has yet to solve.

UFC’s eye poke problem is truly a big one

Ironically, Abu Dhabi was also the location of one of the promotion’s most notorious recent eye-pokes. At UFC 321, Tom Aspinall‘s heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane resulted in a no contest after ‘Bon Gamin’ accidentally poked the champion in both eyes late in the first round.

And in the aftermath, the Briton was diagnosed with traumatic bilateral Brown’s syndrome and persistent double vision, which required surgery to fix.

The issue again got back into the spotlight earlier this year at UFC 324, when Rose Namajunas sustained an eye injury versus Natalia Silva. The former strawweight champion had to undergo canalicular tube silicone surgery and was out of contact training for almost three months.

With incidents piling up, fans once again questioned whether the promotion should impose harsher penalties for eye pokes instead of relying exclusively on warnings.

And to be fair, the Dana White-led promotion did try to address the issue in 2024 by introducing new gloves that would keep fighters’ fingers naturally bent and avoid accidental pokes. However, after receiving numerous complaints from the fighters about the fit, feel, and general performance, the promotion abandoned the experiment and returned to its standard gloves.

As Zaynukov celebrated his UFC debut, the victory was overshadowed by another debate over eye pokes—one that resurfaces every few months when another fighter leaves the Octagon with damaged vision and red eyes.