In recent times, Ciryl Gane has brought the eye-poke discussion back into the spotlight. But before the Frenchman, his former opponent, Jon Jones, held that unwanted crown. During his active days, ‘Bones’ caught several opponents with his fingers, including Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, and many others. Despite that, the former champ rarely faced any real punishment. According to Herb Dean, though, Jones can thank his bitter rival Daniel Cormier for that.

In MMA, any form of eye gouging is generally considered a foul. Yet, according to Herb Dean, the former two-division champ, Daniel Cormier, found a technique that apparently gets out of that range. The veteran ref sat down with ex-bantamweight king, Dominick Cruz, on his podcast, and explained how ‘DC’s crafty creation made Jon Jones escape penalties. 

Jon Jones adopted Daniel Cormier’s eye poke technique

“Daniel Cormier created that eye poke. OK, so I have my hand on your head, controlling your head, perfectly fine. But of course you don’t like that, you don’t want your head controlled, and you start moving your head around wildly, and all of a sudden you get your eye on a finger. You actually put your eye on a finger because you’re doing the right thing, but the way you chose to do it, you didn’t choose to back off, you started rolling your head, and somehow a finger got near your eye.” Herb Dean explained on Love & War with Dominick Cruz.  

Well, it’s actually hard to find out whether Cormier actually invented this technique. But, most notably, the ex-dual weight UFC champ used this technique against Stipe Miocic, especially in the third fight, where ‘DC’ almost pushed his hands into Miocic’s face, and it’s just one example. The former two-division champ also used the push-and-poke technique in many of his fights. Still, never in his wildest dreams did Cormier imagine that Jon Jones would steal his technique.

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In a 2016 documentary, Cormier’s bitter rival ‘Bones’ openly admitted that he used eye pokes to gain an advantage over his opponents. While Herb didn’t say it outright, Jon Jones was also accused of using a similar tactic. Much like ‘DC’, ‘Bones’ often extended his palms, driving them toward his opponent’s face, something he did against Alexander Gustafsson.

“What I’m saying is that’s why we can’t make things automatic, that’s why there has to be discretion,” the veteran ref added on the episode. 

Now, as Herb Dean revealed a crucial technical gap in terms of eye pokes, it remains to be seen whether UFC actually does something to lower its risks. However, as the promotion tries to solve the problem of this vicious foul, Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane’s rivalry has reached a boiling point. 

Tom Aspinall gives a heated reply to Ciryl Gane’s post  

After UFC 321 ended in disappointment, Dana White assured MMA fans that the rematch would happen soon. However, it now appears Tom Aspinall’s eye surgery could delay the anticipated clash even further. With no opponent in sight, a healthy Ciryl Gane uploaded photos of himself training with Tai Tuivasa on social media. Noticing the caption, the heavyweight champ decided to fire back with a verbal takedown aimed at the Frenchman.

“Still no date or opponent yet, but we keep grinding and training hard before the holidays with my man @bambamtuivasa,” Gane posted on Instagram.

“No sh— there’s not a date yet. I’m not medically cleared to fight and about to have surgery thanks to your disgusting fingernails. I’ll be back to smash your face in soon you cheat,” Aspinall replied.

The British Juggernaut has been openly critical of ‘Bon Gamin’ ever since he suffered a nasty eye poke. Aspinall hasn’t missed a chance to fire back whenever the opportunity presented itself, repeatedly pointing to Gane’s fouls inside the cage. Here, he kept that same energy, and it is only going to add more fuel to the rivalry when they eventually meet again.

That said, do you think there should be stricter rule changes when it comes to eye pokes and their punishment as both heavyweight stars look toward a rematch? Let us know in the comments section below.