Last weekend at Ultimate Fight Night 81 from the TD Garden in Boston, the topic of dangerous fouls in mixed martial arts, more specifically eye pokes, was brought to light once again.

The fight between Travis Browne and Matt Mitrione saw Mitrione suffer multiple eye pokes at the hands of his opponent. Whether these eye pokes were accidental or intentional remains to be seen, but in many cases it is beyond any doubt that the foul strike thrown was very much intentional and done to gain a momentary edge over one’s opponent.

Some fighters rely on skill and technique to win, others on brute strength. Some fighters however, try to bend the rules in their favor, be it from an intentional groin strike or an eye poke, or sometimes something more creative like a fish hook or even a bite, to get that extra advantage. Most fouls in MMA are accidental, but occasionally a fighter will do it intentionally and for a reason. These are the fighters who have garnered the reputation as some of the dirtiest fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts.

These kinds of fouls in MMA have always, and unfortunately will always exist.

From Gilbert Yvel intentionally gouging Don Frey’s eyes, to Mike Kyle biting Wes Sims’s chest to escape a precarious situation, to Cheick Kongo’s many intentional groin strikes, to Jon Jones’s many eye pokes in championship bouts at the highest level of the sport – it is all a part of mixed martial arts competition that both participants and spectators wish would go away.

Jeff Warsaw is the former executive editor of Long Island MMA Magazine, professional combat sports public address announcer for several NY/NJ MMA and kickboxing promotions, and a proud one-stripe white belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the famed Joe D’Arce. He is currently a musician, coffee enthusiast and host of the Stranger In A Strange Land podcast on YouTube.