Why don't more fighters use their Free eye-poke?

[UnitZero]

Jon Jones been using his first free eye poke for years. Even been dipping into his second and third free eye poke when he needs to. Didn’t he eye poke Rampage like 6 times?

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

The first eye poke is literally penalty-free, since everybody seems to be operating under that unwritten rule anyway.
And until officials stop their "first one is free" policy, there is no reason not to groin strike and eye-poke your opponent immediately.
I'm not saying it would be right to do so
but I don't get why we don't see more fighters use their free eye poke. You almost never get penalized for the first, and maybe not even the second.
and according to Gary "You both did it" Copeland, You can even get away with a third one if both of you did it at the same time.

I think the trend is towards fighters using their alotted set of fouls. You had Weidman win the fight last week with a double eye poke special.

 

[Tweak896]

It's literally UFC meta right now. I'm tired of pretending they are all accidental.

 

[orca]

do u want them to injure their fingers while doing so?

i dont believe in this horesht that eyepokes are intentional
in a heated fight things like this happens

 

[Dorkman]

It does still come with it's risks even if it's not penalized much. Poke somebody too bad and you end up with a no contest and make it so you can't get your win bonus and cost yourself half of your max earnings. So if you think you can win without poking it is still better to do so and avoid that risk. Plus most these guys just don't want a reputation of being a cheap fighter who fouls people all the time.

 

[DrTrouble]

It can ruin that fight into a NC. The fans can turn on you and officials. You could unintentioally foul again but now it's 2. Your opponent can seek revenge ala Stipe DC.

It's a risk/reward thing. But considering the greatest eye poker is also arguably the goat. Eye poking might not be a bad game plsn.

 

[PaddyO'malley]

Pree dis fam was deep diving into these slap fight leagues that ain’t Power Slap right And yo in this one league Slap Fighting Championship you foul fam no cap your opp gets a free slap on you swear down Tink they should run that in the UFC give the manlets with the heavy hands a fighting chance you know fam Bear mans in the UFC just stretching out their fingers shook to really scrap mandem ain't finna play dirty widdat rule change imagine doin dat to Poatan or my yute Big Mac bro would be snorin' 1st round hooooly like fam if you ain’t here for the throwdown might as well pick up a welding torch or suttin’ just saying if you’re in the fight game be in it fam ahlie

 

[m249viking]

Fighters literally jabbing constantly with fingers extended every fight and drawing an occasional warning

 

[Robbocop]

Eye pokes with tha boiiiiz

 

[Trabaho]

It's a risk/reward thing. But considering the greatest eye poker is also arguably the goat. Eye poking might not be a bad game plsn.

I don't think Jones did it as much as we like to say he did

 

[Robbocop]

There is an underground MMA organisation in Europe, King of the Streets, that allows eye pokes. Maybe the UFC is trying to gradually re-allow the technique. A couple of fights in that org that were TKO via eyepoke were:
"OAK [Arka Hooligan] VS "Bery" [BRNO Hooligan]
"American BloodAxe" vs "KNF"

 

[BlackGirlLover]

That's the funniest thread title I've ever seen lmao