Rose Namajunas: “I Hope Eye Pokes Will Be Taken More Seriously in the Future”
Rose Namajunas has renewed the debate around eye pokes in MMA after revealing she is finally healthy again following the injury she suffered in her UFC 324 fight with Natalia Silva. In an Instagram post shared on April 20, Namajunas said her thumb and eye are “all fixed up,” that she is now cleared to train, and that she spent about three months recovering before reaching that point.
Rose Namajunas Shares Recovery Update, Urges Harsher Eye Poke Penalties
“So you wanna be a fighter? Three months and now Im healthy finally. Thumb and eye are all fixed up. Im a bit out of shape but I’m cleared to train now. I really hope eye pokes will be taken more seriously in the future. I propose instant purse deduction even for an accident. An accident that could seriously affect a fighters health long term. Anyways I’m just grateful that it was not more serious #itsnotthegloves“
The former UFC strawweight champion used the update to push for a rule change. Namajunas wrote that eye pokes should be taken “more seriously” and proposed an instant purse deduction “even for an accident,” arguing that a mistake in the cage can still affect a fighter’s health for the long term. She added that she was grateful the damage was not worse and tagged the post with “#itsnotthegloves,” a line that points away from equipment and toward enforcement.
Namajunas underwent eye surgery after the Silva fight, while other reports explained that the procedure involved a canalicular tube placed to repair damage in the tear drainage system. Namajunas had said at the time that she had been poked in the eye multiple times during the bout.
Where the issue gets messy is in the gap between the written rule and what happens in real time. For intentional fouls that cause injury, point deductions are mandatory under the Unified Rules, and a disqualification can follow if the injury is severe enough. For accidental fouls, the fight can continue after up to five minutes of recovery time, or end in a no contest or technical decision depending on when the stoppage happens.
Namajunas is asking for something stricter than that current structure. Her proposal would remove part of the intent debate and attach a financial cost to every eye poke, whether deliberate or not.
For now, Namajunas is back to training, but her post has turned a recovery update into another test for MMA’s foul system. The rules already recognize the danger of fingers reaching toward the eyes. What Namajunas is arguing is simple: if the sport knows the risk, the penalty should reflect it before another fighter ends up needing surgery.
