The fight between Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311 was nothing short of an action-packed short film. Both of the fighters displayed extensive fighting prowess, but it was ‘The Czech Samurai’ who claimed the victory via TKO by punches in the 3rd minute of the 3rd round. However, it was the eye poke that caught the fighting community’s, and Jon Anik’s attention.

The poking game began in the second round when Prochazka’s thumb accidentally brushes into his opponent’s eye. The referee in charge, Mike Beltran gave ‘Sweet Dreams’ 40 seconds to recover. Soon, as the light heavyweights clash again, Prochazka gets stabbed in the eye by Hill, leading to a foul stoppage. Well, this somehow pushed the UFC play-by-play commentator to remind Daniel Cormier of his fight with Jon Jones. 

Anik playfully targeted the color commentator and said, “You have had your fair share of experience with eye pokes.” Well, the fight between ‘DC’ and ‘Bones’ was filled with the heavyweight champion sticking his fingers into Cormier’s eyes multiple times Of course, Jones does have an issue with eye pokes, as he tries to defend himself with his fingers open wide. But it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience for his opponent. 

Well, there was a time when Jon Jones admitted to the flaw in his game. It was indeed a response to Daniel Cormier predicting the eye pokes. Let’s see what the UFC double division champion had to say. 

Jon Jones responds to Daniel Cormier’s prediction about the eye pokes

Back in 2016, in The Hurt Business documentary, Jones responded to Cormier’s call for eye pokes and acknowledged that he happens to poke his opponents in the eyes. He admitted that it was illegal but it seemed like it wasn’t in his control. He justified, “I react to people trying to punch me in the face, by usually sticking my hand out and pushing their face away.”

However, most of the time, his hands slip and enter his opponent’s eye sockets. Jones continued, “And a lot of times, they end up missing the punch that was intended for my face. And sometimes, it lands in people’s eyes. And people hate that. They’re like, ‘Jonny, you’re a great, talented fighter. You don’t need to use an illegal tactic to be successful’. I try to tell people it’s not intentional. But now, I’m kind of known for it. And it’s working.”

Keeping the eye pokes aside, the fight between Jiri Prochazka and Jamahall Hill at UFC 311 was also as exciting as the fight between Jones and DC at UFC 214. But while the 2017 light heavyweight matchup was overturned because of pokes, Prochazka ended his bout with great finesse. 

What do you think of Anik’s remark about ‘DC’? Do you think Jones should pay more focus on minimizing eye pokes? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.