Zingano has eye damage, considers fight appeal
UFC fighter Cat Zingano isn’t out of the woods yet, regarding a right eye injury she suffered during a TKO loss to Megan Anderson at UFC 232 on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The 145-pound fight ended in bizarre fashion when Anderson landed a left high kick to Zingano’s face. As Zingano tried to dodge the strike, one of Anderson’s toes appeared to go directly into her eye, forcing her to turn away from her opponent and lose via TKO.
Zingano, 36, was treated at the arena that night but only for an eyelid laceration. In a statement to ESPN on Monday, she said she has not been fully cleared yet.
“I have a damaged iris, damaged retina, hemorrhage in the back of my eye, increased globe pressure and of course the laceration,” Zingano told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. “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.”
Zingano added that she is considering appealing the result of the fight, even though California’s rules do not describe a toe to the eye as a foul. Intentional eye gouging is a foul, as are “fingers outstretched toward an opponent’s face/eyes.”
Immediately after the fight, Anderson told ESPN that she considered the result a win but would face Zingano again if the UFC wished to pursue a rematch.
“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.”