Pedro Munhoz had a roller-coaster few days.
The bantamweight veteran has been under the microscope since his UFC 276 fight against Sean O’Malley ended in a disappointing no contest due to an accidental eye poke suffered by Munhoz early in the second round. Despite winning the opening round on the scorecards and being ahead at the time of the foul, Munhoz has faced intense scrutiny since the bout, with O’Malley and many fans accusing him of looking for a way out.
As it turns out, Munhoz was indeed injured. He suffered an abrasion on his right cornea and even resorted to posting his medical report from the hospital in order to clear his name. O’Malley’s handling of this situation has disappointed him considering his reputation for being one the most skilled fighters in bantamweight.
” Many of his actions following the fight were things I don’t believe is right, based upon my values,” Munhoz stated Wednesday on The MMA Hour . He came to my aid and then went on TikTok and made fun of me. So you apologize to me for poking me [then do that]? So you apologize to me for poking you [then do that]?
“But then you go make fun [of it]? It’s a lot like what I warn my children not to do. You say one thing but then you go make fun on the other hand. He came up to me as a member of a similar generation. I am not going to make fun of anyone to gain more followers or other stuff. And besides that, all his friends, all these guy texting me, talking about my wife, talking about my family, saying that they’re going to fight me. Guess what? I told them, I say, ‘You can find me. I’ll be by the pool here Sunday.’
“They’re gangsters on computers. … Accordingly, that is the kind of stuff I disagree with. This was something new to me: fighting a kid from a generation where these shows seem like a circus. When I grew up watching B.J. Penn, Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo, fought of all these guys, Dominick Cruz, and now I just feel that I was in the circus.”
O’Malley was incredulous in his post-fight media availability at both the outcome of the bout and the fact that two of the three judges had Munhoz ahead at the time of the foul. He claimed that he was dominating the fight and said that Munhoz “100 percent” was looking for an easy way out. He then doubled down with numerous posts on social media.
Munhoz’s weekend was quite different. The 35-year-old said he was transported to the hospital post-fight and wasn’t able to open his right eye for 25 minutes. He said doctors ultimately treated him with eye drops often used to numb eyes with pieces of glass stuck in them after car accidents, and that even once his right eye was open, all he could see was “a black fog.” Munhoz is expected to go in for a follow-up appointment on Tuesday. Four days after the incident, he said his vision still isn’t back to 100 percent.
“Today I can open my eyes. As you can see I am able to see clearly in the middle. But in both extremities I still see very dark, not clear like blurry-eyed. Munhoz stated.
Munhoz also clarified a misconception that it was his left eye that suffered the injury, which stemmed from an Instagram post he made in Portuguese after UFC 276. In it, his left eye was swollen shut, however he said that was simply because he accidentally blew his nose once he got back to his hotel. He said he noted that his right eye was the one giving him problems in the post, but that the detail wound up getting lost in translation.
But it’s the criticism he’s received from other fighters that surprised Munhoz the most. He has fought with some of the greatest fighters in his time, including Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo. Munhoz built a reputation for being one of the toughest fighters at 135 pounds, so he’s baffled why people would assume he would look for a way out against the least decorated opponent he’s fought in the past four years.
” I’m being held responsible for something that, it wasn’t my fault,” Munhoz stated. Munhoz said, “I was fighting and I was attacking him.”
“For me, chasing me, he does that move [pointing his fingers outstretched], and so I get blamed for something that he did, you know? And all of a sudden, I want out? It doesn’t make sense. People who say the contrary are just as stupid and ignorant as they should be. They probably had their ears poked at in the gym prior to being fighters. I did. But in that sense, to cut my cornea, was the first time. So I think people that will judge, they see a situation like that, but [they’re] not putting [themselves in] my shoes. They are ignorant.
“I was in the fight 100 percent, I was winning on the scorecards, I was super comfortable,” Munhoz added. “I was able to break him down in the first round, which is the round that he goes the strongest. We know he is starting to go down in the second and third rounds. That’s when I feel my best round. After a five-round bout, I’d probably kill him
Munhoz added that he is ready and willing to do a rematch with O’Malley as soon as his eye is medically cleared, although he’s unsure if O’Malley is willing to do the same.
” I don’t need to prove anything,” Munhoz stated. “At the end of the day, it’s my eye in the game. My reputation in the sport was proven many times. All these were the battles I had to endure. Jose Aldo slapped me in the face during the second round. Clear, boom! I held my ground and continued to fight until the end of round 2. And his punches just compared to Sean O’Malley, it’s kind of like a kid.
“Even Jose Aldo texted yesterday to me, saying, “Bro, we all know you’re hard.” It’s not right to post [medical report].. It is not appropriate to post that [medical report]. I know you guys are going to still not believe in that, but here, so I’m doing anything to avoid this fight. That’s what really happened that day.”
