SATURDAY'S UFC Vegas 52 ended quite quickly for one of Ireland's newest UFC fighters Dean Barry.
The Tallaght fighter made his UFC debut against American Mike Jackson, who last entered the cage four years ago
Barry was on top in the first round of their welterweight preliminary card bout - though had already twice been warned for catching his opponent with low blows - before knocking him down.
As Jackson got back to his feet and attempted to grapple, The Sniper'(Barry) grabbed his opponent in the head and made contact with his eyes.
Jackson was unable to continue and the fight was awarded in his favour by disqualification.
Not how anyone wants to see a fight end. — UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) April 23, 2022
The fight's been called after an eye poke from Dean Barry in the first. #UFCVegas52 pic.twitter.com/jPBG0ZEpty
Barry posted on his own social media account and address the Americans win and said,
“To be honest with you, I thought he took the easy way out there,” Barry said in the video.
“Didn’t want to stay, didn’t want to continue fighting. Even when I kicked him low, he was talking on the ground to me for ages.
Like, if you get hit in the nuts, you can’t be talking like that.
Same with the eye poke. Straight after the ref called the fight off, he was fine.
Both eyes open perfectly. He said he can’t open his eyes.
“Look, I’ll take the rematch in a heartbeat if they give it to me, or just let me go back down to my weight division and fight.
I thought I showed enough out there. Sorry about that. ... It’s not a loss for me, I was destroying him and I got a DQ for an eye poke. What can you do?”
Barry's record now stands at 4-2.
