Referee Goddard defends rare first-round point deduction after Duncan eye poke at UFC Vegas 122

Referee Marc Goddard has defended his decision to deduct a point from Christian Leroy Duncan during his UFC Vegas 122 main event against Brendan Allen on Saturday at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, confirming he had issued two warnings before penalising the British middleweight in the second round.

The deduction drew scrutiny because referees seldom take a point for a first infraction. Goddard, however, was clear that the penalty came only after a pre-fight rules briefing and two in-fight warnings — one verbal caution during round one for outstretched fingers near Allen’s face, and a further reminder to Duncan between rounds before the eye poke occurred.

“As referees we go over the rules one to one with fighters in the back before the fight begins, here we specifically cover potential eye pokes,” Goddard wrote on X. “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 and mindful of the hands. It is then when the eye poke occurs do I take definitive action.”

The point deduction ultimately had no bearing on the result. Allen submitted Duncan with a rear-naked choke in the final round to win the contest, dropping Duncan’s record to 15-3 while improving his own to 28-7.

Godard acknowledged the broader challenge officials face in curbing eye pokes, noting that brief pre-fight conversations are unlikely to override decades of ingrained training habits. “There’s so much more, mechanically, to addressing eye pokes in MMA — both preventatively and correctively — it is very hard to expect an athlete to change 20 years of training and habit with a few minutes of conversation pre fight,” he added.

The referee was careful to separate criticism of the foul from any judgement of Duncan’s character, describing him as “a credit to the sport of MMA and an exceptional athlete,” while stressing that tackling eye pokes remains a firm priority for the officiating community.