Marc Goddard: Christian Leroy Duncan was warned twice before UFC Vegas 122 point deduction

The referee said officials go over the rules one to one with fighters backstage, with eye pokes covered specifically, and called fixing the problem "a firm priority" for himself and his colleagues.

By Combat Sports UK Staff · Published Mon 12 Oct, 13:35 UK · AI-assisted reporting

Christian Leroy Duncan during UFC Vegas 122 fight week — Photo: UFC

Post by @marcgoddard_uk on X

Christian Leroy Duncan was warned twice about his hands before referee Marc Goddard took a point from him in the UFC Vegas 122 main event, Goddard has explained.

The Gloucester middleweight was docked the point for an eye poke in the second round of his fight with Brendan Allen at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, which finished in the early hours of Sunday UK time.

Goddard set out his reasoning in a post on X on Sunday. "I'd like to offer some clarity on this as I believe it's a teachable moment & gives insight into what we are doing as officials to overcome certain obstacles," he wrote. "As referees we go over the rules one to one with fighters in the back before the fight begins, here we specifically cover potential eyes pokes. If you watch you will hear me warn CLD in round one for outstretched fingers toward the face. I then again, before the start of the next round, ask him to be careful & mindful of the hands. It is then when the eye poke occurs do I take definitive action."

He was full of praise for Duncan and said the problem would not be solved by a pre-fight briefing alone. "CLD is a credit to the sport of MMA & an exceptional athlete," Goddard wrote. "There's so much more, mechanically to addressing eye pokes in MMA both preventatively (before the action) and correctively (after the action) it is very hard to expect an athlete to change 20 years of training & habit with a few minutes of conversation pre fight. Just know that both myself and my colleagues know it is a firm priority to address & fix this."

The deduction did not decide the fight. Allen submitted Duncan with a rear-naked choke at 2:46 of the fifth round, so it never went to the judges (UFC Vegas 122 results). It was the first stoppage defeat of Duncan's professional career and ended a run of five straight wins.