“That’s a no contest in the making” – MMA fighters and fans outrage as referee misses alleged eyepoke in 4-minute KO at UFC Atlantic City

The referee’s alleged missed eye poke during a 4-minute KO at UFC Atlantic City infuriated the entire mixed martial arts community, including both fighters and fans.

The main event of the Fight Night event, which took place on March 30 at Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey, saw UFC women’s flyweights Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot compete. In the co-main event, Vicente Luque and Joaquin Buckley faced off in a welterweight bout.

At the Fight Night event, a middleweight showdown took place on the main card between Nursulton Ruziboev (34-8-2) and Sedriques Dumas (9-2).

Both fighters began the opening round with feints. Ruziboev followed up with a powerful right hand and then executed an uppercut, while Dumas failed to land any significant strikes. The Uzbek fighter then connected with another right hand and attempted a one-two combination, including an uppercut. However, during the exchange, the American was inadvertently poked in the eye. Despite this, the referee allowed the fight to continue.

While Dumas shielded his eyes and averted his gaze, Ruziboev struck him with a powerful uppercut, knocking him to the mat for the final blow. Upon reviewing the replays, it was evident that Ruziboev had indeed grazed his fingers across Dumas’ face before delivering the finishing blow.

Take a look at the end result below:

The referee’s performance did not go over well with the fans, prompting them to flock to the comments section to voice their disappointment. Many expressed their frustration with the referee’s failure to properly execute his job. See some of their reactions below:

”That’s a no contest in the making.”

”Refs are smoking crack tonight”

”You can’t convince me that this sh*t isn’t scripted.”

Further reactions can be found below:

Ruziboev made his first appearance in the octagon at UFC Vegas 76 in July 2023, where he faced Brunno Ferreira and secured a quick knockout victory in the opening minutes of the fight. In the meantime, Dumas had just recently defeated Abu Azaitar via unanimous decision at UFC 294 in October of the previous year.