Muhammad accuses Garry of using eye pokes as a strategy after back-to-back UFC losses

Belal Muhammad has accused Ian Machado Garry of intentionally using eye pokes as part of his game plan during their November fight, arguing that lax referee enforcement has turned an illegal foul into a viable MMA strategy.

Muhammad, who faces Gabriel Bonfim at UFC Vegas 118 on Saturday, is entering the bout on a two-fight losing streak — a decision defeat to Garry and a title fight loss to Jack Della Maddalena. He believes the eye pokes he suffered against Garry were not accidental and directly influenced the outcome of that fight.

“Especially guys like Ian Garry, who’s a strategist, they understand how to win fights, and they go into a fight with a strategy,” Muhammad said. “I do think that it was a strategy to poke in the eye, especially early. Because it stops everything. It stops the beginning of the fight, the onslaught that’s to come, and your vision’s never going to be the same.”

Muhammad described the cascading effect an eye poke has on a fighter’s mental state mid-bout, explaining that the disruption goes far beyond the physical damage to the eye itself. The pause in action, the crowd noise, and the pressure to continue despite impaired vision all compound the disadvantage, he argued.

“It changes everything,” Muhammad said. “It changes the momentum of the fight. It changes the protocols. It changes what your mindset was. There’s a pause in the action, and then you have to hear the crowd boo as you’re trying to wipe it out of your eye.”

He also pointed to the social stigma fighters face when they report vision problems after a poke, noting that admitting you cannot see is often met with accusations of cowardice — a dynamic he believes fighters like Garry are now exploiting.

“When you say you can’t see, you’re labeled a coward,” Muhammad said. “Fighters are knowing that now, and I think there’s a lot of fighters that are putting it into their game plan. The same way the NBA is adding flopping, the MMA world’s adding more eye pokes to change the game.”

Under current unified rules, referees have discretion over whether to issue a warning or deduct a point for fouls, and point deductions for eye pokes remain rare. Muhammad argues that without consistent punishment, there is little incentive for fighters to change their hand positioning.

“I’ve never had a fight where I’ve poked anybody in the eye,” Muhammad said. “It’s trained. You close your fist.”

The former UFC welterweight champion will look to end his losing run against Bonfim on Saturday, but his pre-fight focus has clearly been shaped as much by what happened in November as by what lies ahead.