UFC 191 results: On one good eye, Joe Riggs gets controversial DQ win over Ron Stallings

Joe Riggs

LAS VEGAS – In a strange ending to what had been an exciting fight, an illegal upkick by Ron Stallings resulted in a disqualification victory for Joe Riggs.

Riggs told the cageside doctor he was unable to see after the illegal blow midway through the second round. To complicate matters, Riggs (41-16 MMA, 4-7 UFC) seemed to have suffered the initial eye injury as a result of a jab from Stallings (13-8 MMA, 1-2 UFC) early in the first.

When the doctor entered the cage to check on Riggs following the illegal kick, Riggs’ response appeared to be enough to convince him to stop the bout. Since referee Jason Herzog ruled Stallings’ upkick was illegal, and with Riggs telling the doctor he was unable to continue because he couldn’t see, Stallings was left with a DQ loss.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 191 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and a main card on pay-per-view.

On the strength of his jab, Stallings got off to a strong start in this one. He stung Riggs with it several times in the first round, with one particularly sharp blow that left Riggs squinting and pawing at his own right eye almost immediately. Though Stallings would attempt to press his advantage after that, Riggs responded well, taking Stallings to the mat twice in the first round, mainly as a self-preservation tactic.

After his corner attended to his eye and did their best to stonewall the doctor between rounds, Riggs came out to start the second and floored Stallings almost instantly with a hard left hand. From there, Riggs jumped on his downed foe, smashing Stallings with elbows from inside the guard and opening a not insignificant cut around Stallings’ eye.

But as Riggs worked from Stallings’ guard, Stallings responded with an upkick to Riggs’ head while his knees were still on the mat. Though the replay appeared to show the kick landing on Riggs’ jaw, he continued to struggle with his right eye.

When the referee paused the bout due to the foul, the cageside doctor came in to examine Riggs, who said he was unable to see out of his right eye. Since the referee deemed that the damage had come as a result of the foul, Stallings was disqualified and Riggs was declared the victor.

The win for Riggs snaps a two-fight losing streak he’d endured since returning to the UFC last year. Stallings has now lost three of his last four.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 191 results include:

• Joe Riggs def. Ron Stallings via disqualification (illegal upkick) – Round 2, 2:28
• Joaquim Silva def. Nazareno Malegarie via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC 191, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)