Getty Images UFC welterweight Mike Jackson.
Irish newcomer Dean Barry called out his opponent Mike Jackson after losing via disqualification on Saturday at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
It was Jackson’s first trip back into the UFC octagon in four years and it ended prematurely and painfully due to a pair of illegal moves by Barry — a spinning kick to the downstairs of Jackson and the second a serious eye gouge. Referee Chris Tognoni decided to call off the fight, giving Jackson the win.
Jackson told the ringside doctor that he didn’t want to continue fighting, which led to the decision from Tognoni to stop the action, giving Jackson his first official UFC win. Barry thought that Jackson milked the injuries and should have kept fighting — albeit his take might have been different if he was on the receiving end.
Not how anyone wants to see a fight end.
The fight’s been called after an eye poke from Dean Barry in the first. #UFCVegas52
“To be honest with you, I thought he took the easy way out there,” Barry said in a video posted to his social media. “Didn’t want to stay, didn’t want to continue fighting. Even when I kicked him low, he was talking on the ground to me for ages. Like, if you get hit in the nuts, you can’t be talking like that. Same with the eye poke. Straight after the ref called the fight off, he was fine. Both eyes open perfectly. He said he can’t open his eyes.
“Look, I’ll take the rematch in a heartbeat if they give it to me, or just let me go back down to my weight division and fight. I thought I showed enough out there. Sorry about that. … It’s not a loss for me, I was destroying him and I got a DQ for an eye poke. What can you do?”
Barry Finds Support on Social Media
Some saw it the same way Barry did, including former UFC fighter Kyle Stewart, who sounded off in the comments of the post.
“That dude is a clown. Turned the whole fight into a circus,” Stewart wrote. “He didn’t wanna be in there. He just wants the attention. Any fighters at the UFC level would say the same thing after watching all of his antics. Homeboy wanted a way out without taking an L and he found one. It was a mistake on your part but that motherf–ker ran with it. What an absolute clown.”
Barry did deliver a more sensitive statement via Instagram, apologizing to Jackson.
“Sorry Mike for the accidental eye poke it wasn’t one bit intentional at all brother and wish you well. I’m feeling good just a little upset and frustrated at most it should of been a no contest but this happens,” Barry wrote. “Again, my apologies for the eye poke never meant it to happen I was seconds away from finishing the fight. On to the next one time for my right weight division. I got the ufc jitters out of the way now and I’m excited to get out again.”
Barry fell to 4-2 as a pro but it’s still possible he gets another shot in the UFC despite the rough ending to his octagon debut.
It’s the first official “win” for Jackson, who had his first victory against wrestler turned UFC fighter CM Punk overturned due to a positive marijuana test. “The Truth” lost his UFC debut in 45 seconds via submission to Mickey Gall.
Illegal Strikes, DQs Controversial Topic of Late in UFC
The decision between Jackson and Barry was the third instance in two weeks where fight-ending fouls played a role in a result. At UFC Vegas 51 a week earlier, two fights went to technical decision, utilizing the judges’ scorecards.
Both fighters who delivered the illegal strikes — Martin Buday and Caio Borralho — were given the victories after the ref judged the strikes as unintentional. That didn’t sit well with some, including Daniel Cormier.
No knock on Caio or Martin but every single time I threw a strike in the octagon it was intentional. They both should have been disqualified! #ufconespn
“No knock on Caio or Martin but every single time I threw a strike in the octagon it was intentional,” Cormier wrote. “They both should have been disqualified!
“So win 2 rounds, throw unintentional illegal strike and then hope the guy can’t continue,” Cormier continued. “So that y’all go to judges right then. S–t you don’t run the risk of losing.”