Unlike many Fight Night events, UFC Baku succeeded in garnering quite some attention for the preliminary card. But the shocker came when Ismail Naurdiev clashed against Park Jun-yong. The fight ended with the Korean middleweight contender winning the bout via a unanimous decision. However, it was a contest filled with quite a bit of drama as Naurdiev made multiple fouls in just 2 rounds. And his punishment? It wasn’t instant disqualification. 

As the fight began, Naurdiev jumped in with quick and explosive strikes. But soon, an eye poke brought a halt to the proceedings. Jun-yong signalled that he was good to go and stunned his opponent right before the bell rang. But his troubles worsened in the second round when Naurdiev landed an illegal knee to the Korean’s face, and burst his eyelid. It was illegal because Jun-yong was grounded at the moment, with his right knee touching the canvas. The referee in charge explained what went wrong to Naurdiev and deducted 2 points from his scorecard, a rare occurrence in the UFC. And against the odds, Park rallied and got the UD win. 

Soon, the incident went viral on social media. Terrance McKinney took to X and wrote, “That’s f—– illegal in my Dana white voice lol.” MMA reporter, Aaron Bronsteter, tweeted, “Coach says Park can’t open his eye. Doctor says he’s good to go. What..?” It’s actually all dependent on the fighter’s decision. If the fighter decides to continue fighting, he’ll be allowed to do so. And this time, it worked in favor of the Korean. 

DovySimuMMA also shared the image of Jun-yong getting kneed in the face. In the picture, he had his knee, both feet, and a hand on the ground when Naurdiev connected his knee with his face. He captioned the tweet with one word – “Ouch”. Needless to say, the fighting community took to the comments section soon after the post went viral.

And as they did so, they brought Dana White’s cageside doctor into heavy scrutiny. Let’s see what the fight fans had to say, shall we?

Fans bash Dana White’s doctor as Ismail Naurdiev connects an illegal knee to Park Jun-yong’s face at UFC Baku

One fan called Naurdiev out for cheating. After all, such an illegal move should have pushed the referee to call the fight off and disqualify the offender. The comment read, “So much cheating! 2 eye pokes+ the knee? That’s a disqualification!!!” Another fan, however, claimed that a DQ wasn’t necessary. He wrote, “Anywhere else that’s a DQ glad ref took 2 points away tho, park is one tough guy.” Another fan added, “Had park by finish or dq on my parlay why tf would they not disqualify him and give him a 2 point deduction.”

Meanwhile, many fans debated the illegal knee in the comments. One fan claimed, “I understand this is an illegal knee per the current rules, but I think the rules are bad on this. One FC allows this, Pride allowed this, and I see no reason why the UFC shouldn’t.” Another fan added to the notion and wrote, “Knees should be legal from there, it’s just asinine as f— to have this still happen in the biggest promotion in the year 2025.”

But every single fan commended the Korean middleweight star for his performance. One fan commented, “Imagine jumping on the fence and celebrating after 2 eyepokes and an illegal knee.” Another fan added, “Sun is a tough mf.” On the other hand, many others bashed Naurdiev for his illegal move. The comment read, “Dirty fighter, three fouls within two rounds.” 

What is your opinion on the disqualification of Naurdiev? Did the referee do the right thing by deducting 2 points in the UFC Baku prelim fight? Let’s keep the conversation flowing in the comments below.