It appears UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa dodged a bullet.
Tafa was the victim of a brutal eye poke this past Saturday at UFC on ABC 5 in Jacksonville, Fla., resulting in a no contest with Austen Lane just 29 seconds into the fight. Lane’s fingers inadvertently jammed into both of Tafa’s eyes for one of the most egregious eye pokes in UFC history.
When the foul happened, referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in and called timeout. Lane was warned, and Tafa was allotted five minutes to recover, but there was no way given the severity of the damage in the moment.
Roughly 48 hours later, Tafa provided an update on social media, and it appears he avoided a worst-case scenario.
“Cleared of any major damage to both eyes but both eyes did suffer some damage,” Tafa tweeted. “Right eye still in some pain, sensitive to light and blurred vision on the (left) but I thank God nothing that was going to end my career or cause serious damage to my eye.”
Cleared of any major damage to both eyes but both eyes did suffer some damage. Right eye still in some pain, sensitive to light and blurred vision on the but I thank God nothing that was going to end my career or cause serious damage to my eye.
Thank you all for your concern 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/NQawBFgxdp
— Justin Tafa (@justin_tafa) June 26, 2023
The accident caused a disappointing conclusion to the fight for both Lane (12-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Tafa (6-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC). Lane, a former NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was making his UFC debut in front of fans who used to cheer for him on the gridiron. Tafa, out of Australia, was seeking to extend his winning streak to three.
The good news for Tafa is that he will likely get that shot after not suffering permanent damage despite how awful the injury looked.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 5.
