Longtime referee Herb Dean says the days of leniency on eye-poke fouls are ending. Appearing on Believe You Me, Dean explained that officials intend to enforce existing rules and begin taking points proactively after the fallout from UFC 321’s Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane no-contest.
“We made a rule it’s a foul to extend the fingers towards the eyes… that rule has been there, but we haven’t been enforcing it,” Dean said. “We should start taking points… before it actually happens to hurt somebody.”
Dean noted the outsized impact of deductions in three-rounders.
“We have a one-point sport… most of the time the score is 29-28. You take one point, you’ve taken a majority of wins and turned it into a draw. But we’re going to have to do something… That’s something that’s going to happen.”
Translation: expect quicker, preventative point deductions for extended fingers especially when fighters repeatedly “paw” with open hands at range.