Patricio Freire says he suffered a serious eye injury during his unanimous decision loss to Aaron Pico on the featured prelim at UFC 327 in Miami.
The bout took place at the Kaseya Center, where Freire later revealed that a jab and straight right from Pico fractured the right side of his orbital bone and part of his nose, compromising his vision from the start of Round 2.
"Congrats to my opponent, he was well trained and really fast," Freire said. He added, "Some people in the media were saying that I was doing well in the first round, but my performance dropped sharply from the first round to the second round. It turns out I took a clean shot right in the eye with my eye wide open, a sequence of a jab and a straight right, and it ended up fracturing my orbital bone right here (right side), and this side of my nose."
According to Freire, the damage changed the rest of the fight. "That compromised my vision right at the start of the second round, so all I could do was try to protect myself from the blows that were coming. Of course, I tried to attack, too, but with very little success. I was hit with a barrage of strikes throughout the entire second round. And anyone who saw could tell this old man still has a bit of chin here, that I can take a few hits. Unfortunately that was all I could manage given the condition I was in."
Freire, a former two-division Bellator champion, is now 37-9 in MMA and 1-2 in the UFC, having previously lost to Yair Rodriguez at UFC 314 and defeated Dan Ige at UFC 318 before facing fellow former Bellator fighter Pico.
