Pedro Munhoz Says He Suffered Scratched Cornea Against Sean O’Malley

It appears that Pedro Munhoz had good reason for being unable to continue against Sean O'Malley in their bantamweight clash at UFC 276.

The fight was ruled a no contest at the 3:09 mark of Round 2 after an accidental eye poke from O’Malley impaired Munhoz’s vision enough that the cageside physician advised that the bout be called off. The 35-year-old American Top Team representative released a statement via Instagram revealing that he suffered a scratched cornea as a result of the foul.

“To explain briefly what happened in the fight against Sean O’Malley, I was poked in the eye in the first round but kept fighting, and was hit with a low blow shortly after,” Munhoz said (translation via MMAFighting.com). “The fight restarted and we exchanged a few strikes. In the second round, that’s when I suffered another eye poke. I couldn’t see anything for 20 minutes. I was taken to the hospital and they used a special eyedrop that made my eye numb so they could open my eye.

“They did an exam and the medical report I have is that there’s a scratch in the cornea all the way around it. I couldn’t open my eye because of that and couldn’t see anything. The referee asked if I could see at all and the doctor decided to stop the fight. That’s what happened tonight.”

O’Malley, meanwhile, was skeptical of the severity of Munhoz’s injury and speculated that his opponent was looking for a way out of the fight. While neither fighter seemed to have gained a clear advantage prior to the foul, O’Malley was confident that the action was tilting in his favor.

“100 percent that’s what’s going on in my mind,” O’Malley told media at a post-fight press conference. “I’ll have to rewatch it. I was piecing him up. I didn’t get hit once. He came in there and said, ‘I’m going to kick his legs and try to take him down.’ He tried kicking my legs and it damaged him more. He couldn’t get me up against the fence. He couldn’t take me down. I was dominating that fight.”

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