It was one of the more bizarre finishes in UFC history. At UFC 232, early on in the featherweight bout between Megan Anderson and Cat Zingano, Anderson threw a left high kick which, while it didn’t land flush, caused a great deal of damage to her opponent.
Instead of making a full connection to her opponent with her foot and the replay was quite literally eye-watering. Anderson’s big toe grazed Zingano’s eye, scratching her eyelid and placing her opponent in immediate and obvious discomfort.
The bout was ruled as a TKO victory for Anderson, with officials noting that because the offending injury was caused by a toe that it wasn’t illegal. However, had the poke been committed by a finger that would have been an illegal strike and the fight would have been commuted to a no-contest.
Nonetheless, Zingano has lodged an appeal to render the fight as a no-contest. Her lawyer, Nathan Gable, says the wants a “a legal opinion regarding the interpretation of the applicable rules” in the document, which can be read in full here.
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“The language of the Unified Rules regarding eye gouging is non exhaustive and the examples listed, namely ‘eye gouging by means of fingers, chin, or elbow,’ are not meant as the only methods by which a foul may occur,” the appeal states. “First, the language is plainly open ended, beginning with ‘eye gouging of any kind.…’ Had the Unified Rules intended to limit this foul to only the examples that followed and exclude toes from this foul, this rule would have been written with limiting language such as, ‘only eye gouging by means of fingers, chin, or elbow is illegal’ and omit the words ‘of any kind.’
“Additionally, had this rule been meant to limit this foul to only the examples that followed and exclude toes, then by the same logic, a thumb to the eye would not be foul as the rule merely mentions fingers, not thumbs.”
CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster told MMA Junkie that he will hear Zingano’s appeal in February.
It was the former bantamweight title challenger’s first bout at 145-pounds and while Anderson has said she is open to a rematch, she also stated that she would prefer to face fighters native to the featherweight division.
“I don’t really freaking care,” she said. “Let’s sign featherweights, if you want me to fight somebody else. Let’s actually sign some featherweights.”
