"That sh*t is on me" - Austen Lane takes full blame for no-contest against Justin Tafa at UFC Jacksonville

Justin Tafa was on the wrong end of a gruesome eye poke at UFC Jacksonville this weekend. His main-card bout against Austen Lane ended in tragedy for the Kiwi as he suffered a debilitating injury in the first round. The fight was ruled as a no-contest just 29 seconds into the bout.

Tafa was riding a two-fight win streak heading into the weekend, and he will have to regroup following the unexpected result.

Justin Tafa took to Twitter following his fight and declared that he should still receive his win bonus and that his opponent should have been disqualified:

"I deserve my Win bonus that’s a DQ man"

See the post below:

Austen Lane also took to Twitter following the unfortunate result and extended his apologies to the Kiwi as well as Jacksonville, his home town:

"Justin Tafa… I apologize. Not how I wanted it to go down. That sh*t is on me and I hope your eye is alright. To the city I call home. The energy you gave me as I was walking out will be something I’ll remember the rest of my life. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you show."

See the post below:

The referee in charge of the bout, Dan Miragliotta, ruled that the eye poke was accidental. This led to the result being confirmed as a no-contest. Had Miragliotta ruled the eye poke as intentional, the result would have been a disqualification for Austen Lane.

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MMA pros react to Justin Tafa's brutal eye injury at UFC Jacksonville

Justin Tafa's hopes of extending his two-fight win streak were shattered inside 30 seconds of the first round against Austen Lane at UFC Jacksonville last night.

The Kiwi suffered one of the worst eye pokes in memory, and the fight was called off by the doctor following a close inspection of Tafa's eye.

MMA pros took to Twitter to react to the gruesome injury, and the collective concern was evident. Francis Ngannou's head coach, Eric Nicksick, said:

"Bro, take this guy to hospital ASAP, before he loses his sight."

Belal Muhammad, who has himself been on the wrong end of a terrible eye poke, tweeted:

"Ugh that was a bad poke he’s needs to go to the hospital"

UFC fighters Terrance McKinney, Chris Curtis and Casey O'Neill all took to Twitter to react to the incident.