Cat Zingano’s UFC 232 Eye Injury Worse Than Initially Revealed
Former UFC title contender Cat Zingano lost in bizarre, concerning fashion when she met Megan Anderson at last weekend’s (Sat., December 29, 2018) UFC 232 from The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Anderson threw a high kick early in the fight where her big toe went directly into Zingano’s eye. “Alpha” was unable to see, forcing the referee to call off the fight as Anderson moved in to finish her off. The scenario looked bad, with Zingano unable to open her eye as she stood in the Octagon in the aftermath of the match-up. However, some good news came when she reportedly only needed stitches for an eyelid laceration, which she got onsite.
Zingano followed that up with her own update, assuring fans that she would be okay and had avoided a ruptured eye. Her fans let out a proverbial sigh of relief, yet it appears she’s not quite out of the woods. She issued an update on her status to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani this week, and is
“I have a damaged iris, damaged retina, hemorrhage in the back of my eye, increased globe pressure and of course the laceration. They want me back at the doctor every three to four days to make sure there’s no detachment on the retina.
“Right now, they have to keep it dilated and on steroids for the next two weeks to keep the pressure down.”
Anderson’s Response
Anderson defended the controversial win in an interview of her own, noting that it was not illegal. She claimed she was only doing her job and is more than happy to rematch Zingano:
“If they want me to fight her again, I’m more than happy to,” Anderson said. “A win is a win. I’m not going to let anything else take away from this moment. I can’t control if she moves her head or not. I can’t control if the referee doesn’t give her a break.
“You can punch someone in the eye. You can knee someone in the eye. It’s just the fingers that are classified in that rule. I can’t really control what she does. All I can control is me doing my job, and that’s what I did.”
What Anderson did is not illegal, just odd in that we rarely see a toe strike cause such significant damage in a fight. For her part, Zingano appears to be taking it in stride, recently posting the following message on Twitter:
All the best to Zingano in her recovery. She appears to be maintaining an upbeat attitude about the unfortunate set of circumstances. But a rematch with Anderson appears to be a ways off considering her current health status.
