‘Everything’s blurry’: Aussie UFC star suffers horrific eye-poke injury

An Australian UFC star was rushed to hospital after suffering a truly horrific injury that left fans and fellow fighters looking away.

Justin Tafa copped horror eye poke

Australian UFC fighter Justin Tafa suffered a truly horrific injury on Sunday morning in his fight against Austen Lane.

On the main card of the UFC’s Fight Night in Jacksonville, Tafa’s fight lasted only 27 seconds before he copped one of the worst eye pokes the fight promotion has ever seen.

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As the two fighters closed the distance, Tafa launched an overhand left only for Austen to lunge forward with his left hand.

Austen’s fingers plunged into the eyeballs of Tafa in truly gruesome scenes as the Aussie was left blinded and bloodied by the incident.

Tafa’s eye swelled up instantly and forced the fight to be stopped as the doctor entered the cage.

The bout was ultimately called off and ruled a no contest due to the accidental eye poke. A ruling that didn’t sit well with the Aussie.

“I deserve my win bonus,” Tafa wrote on Twitter. “That’s a DQ man.”

One of the most brutal eye poke in the UFC ends the fight between Austen Lane and Justin Tafa 😢#UFCJacksonville

pic.twitter.com/lnGzKnni1N

— Combat Sports Today 📰 (@CSTodayNews) June 24, 2023

I deserve my Win bonus that’s a DQ man pic.twitter.com/CMNdW0ZUtL

— Justin Tafa (@justin_tafa) June 24, 2023

The horrific incident left Tafa believing his vision may have been lost permanently and that his eyeball had been ripped out.

“I thought my eyeball had been ripped out, honestly,” he said to CODE Sports’ Brendan Bradford.

“The first thing I was thinking was, ‘Can I see my kids again?’

“I just hope it’s not really bad damage. Everything’s blurry now. I can see your face, but everything’s just blurry.”

Blood was pouring out. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)

Tafa’s eye swelled up instantly. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)

Lane apologised for the incident on Twitter: “Justin Tafa … I apologise. Not how I wanted it to go down. That s*** is on me and I hope your eye is alright.

“To the city I call home. The energy you gave me as I was walking out will be something I’ll remember the rest of my life. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you show.”

UFC pros were appalled at the sickening incident, sharing their concern for the NZ-Australian star – a former Melbourne Storm under-20s player.

“That’s as bad as it gets,” commentator Jon Anik. “An anticlimactic conclusion to say the least, but one of the worst eye pokes I’ve seen in recent memory.”

Fellow commentator and UFC legend Daniel Cormier added: “His entire hand went into his eye.”

UFC fighter Casey O’Neill wrote: “That eye poke was vicious oh my goodness, his eye is bleeding.”

MMA coach Eric Nicksick wrote: “Bro, take this guy to the hospital ASAP, before he loses his sight.”