WEDNESDAY NEWS DIGEST 2/20: Cat Zingano’s appeal over toe to eye denied, Yushin Okami signs with ONE, and more

By Michael Hiscoe, Managing Editor

Dec 29, 2018; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cat Zingano (red gloves) after her loss to Amanda Anderson (blue gloves) during UFC 232 at The Forum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Toe defense a no-go

Cat Zingano lost her UFC 232 fight to Megan Anderson in an unfortunate and unique way. Anderson threw a high kick in the first round and her toe went right in Zingano’s eye. The fight was stopped as Zingano’s eye was hurt and she was unable to continue. Anderson was awarded a TKO victory. Zingano went on to appeal that decision, arguing that a toe to the eye should be treated the same as a finger to the eye.

MMA Fighting has reported that the California State Athletic Commission disagreed and voted 6-1 in favor of upholding Anderson’s win. According to the letter of the law laid out in MMA’s Unified Rules, a poke to the eye is only a foul if it is with a finger. Similarly, a fight is not stopped if a fighter takes a knuckle to the eye from a closed fist.

Zingano is still recovering from the injury and is hoping for a rematch with Anderson when she is ready to return.

New to ONE

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced on Twitter Tuesday night that former UFC middleweight title challenger Yushin Okami has signed with the promotion.

Okami had an impressive first UFC run that culminated in a middleweight championship fight with Anderson Silva at UFC’s return to Brazil in 2011. After spending some time in the former World Series of Fighting, he returned to UFC for a short notice fight with Ovince Saint-Preux in a light heavyweight fight. He then dropped down to welterweight for two fights with a win over Dhiego Lima and most recently, a loss to Alexey Kunchenko in December.

Wednesday Notebook

Joe Rogan said on his podcast recently that he will only call domestic pay-per-view events moving forward and will not call any fights on ESPN.

In case you missed it

FREE PODCAST 2/18 – PWTorch Dailycast – MMA Talk for Pro Wrestling Fans: Vallejos and Covington review Bellator 215, Bellator 216, and UFC on ESPN 1, give their take on the biggest matches from WWE’s Elimination Chamber PPV, more (90 min)

NEW PODCAST: MMA Scope with Cole Henry and Patrick Shaheen 2/19 – Bellator and UFC recaps as well as a look ahead to UFC Prague

UFC Prague: Inside the Octagon preview

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