Jeremy Stephens, Eye Poked in 15 Seconds, Says He’ll Fight Rodriguez Again
By Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media MMA Correspondent
Mexico City, Mexico (September 22, 2019)– According to Yair Rodriguez, “Let’s do this again. I feel really bad, everybody came down to see this fight.” According to Jeremy Stephens, “Let’s run it back mother#@ker!” the main event between these 145 pounds MMA featherweights turned from an anticipated dream matchup into a televised nightmare, worse than Kimbo Slice versus Seth Petruzelli.
After a kick from Rodriguez, and a block by Stephens, a grazing hand by Rodriguez at Stevens right eye inadvertently caused a finger poke into the left eye of Stevens, ending the contest after a five minute rest period by a ruling of No Contest in Mexico City, Mexico, on Saturday, September 21, 2019, in UFC Fight Night 159 competition. After hospitalization and treatment, Stevens claimed a deep scratch on his left eyeball.
Whether or not Stephens can get his desired rematch in two weeks, or four to five weeks, will depend on how fast he heals. The merits of having a ‘just in case’ reserve walkout backup bout were proven by this fiasco. It is hard to rationalize this kind of nutty ending.
In other words, for MMA fans, the 15-second war translated into insanity. Play it again, Sam. The sports moral of the story is tested and true: some telecasts succeed. Some don’t.
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