"That's a no contest in the making" - MMA fighters and fans outrage as referee misses alleged eyepoke in 4-minute KO at UFC Atlantic City

The entire mixed martial arts community, including fighters and fans, was infuriated by the referee when he missed an alleged eye poke in a 4-minute KO at UFC Atlantic City.

The Fight Night event, held on March 30 at Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey, featured UFC women's flyweights Erin Blanchfield vs. Manon Fiorot as the main event. In the co-main event, Vicente Luque faced Joaquin Buckley in a welterweight bout.

Nursulton Ruziboev (34-8-2) squared off against Sedriques Dumas (9-2) in a middleweight showdown on the main card of the Fight Night event.

Both men started with feints in the opening round. After landing a strong right, Ruziboev executed an uppercut, while Dumas didn't land anything significant. The Uzbek fighter landed another right hand. He executed a one-two to try to get an uppercut. However, the American was poked in the eye during the process, but the referee allowed the fight to continue.

While Dumas covered his eyes and turned away, Ruziboev swung at him, finally landing the uppercut and dropping him to the mat for the finish. Replays proved that Ruziboev did, scrape his fingers down Dumas' face before the finish.

Check out the finish below:

That didn't sit well with the fans, who flocked to the comments section to express their disappointment with the referee, who didn't execute his job properly. Take a look at some of their reactions below:

''That's a no contest in the making.''

''Refs are smoking crack tonight''

''You can't convince me that this sh*t isn't scripted.''

Check out some more reactions below:

Screenshot of fan reactions to UFC's post on X

Ruziboev debuted inside the octagon in July 2023 against Brunno Ferreira at UFC Vegas 76, winning via knockout in the opening minutes of the fight. Meanwhile, Dumas was coming off a unanimous decision win against Abu Azaitar at UFC 294 in October last year.