Urijah Faber stops Rivera with eye-poke, choke at UFC 181
LAS VEGAS -- After a round of mostly feints and feeling one another out, former world champ Urijah Faber stunned Francisco Rivera with an accidental eye poke to the face from a left strike, a move that backed up the power puncher against the cage. Faber followed up with powerful knee strikes to the head that dropped "Cisco" to the mat.
From there, Faber got to the left side of the kneeling Rivera and locked in a Bulldog choke, forcing the tap out submission at 1:34 of the second round.
Faber, and most of the Mandalay Bay crowd in attendance, did not initially realize that Faber poked Rivera in the eye. Upon seeing the replay, the boos came pouring down into the cage for Faber.
In his post-fight interview, Faber acknowledged that it was an eye poke, but an accidental one. "I didn't realize it until just now," he said. "I would never wish that on anyone."
The win was Faber's second straight, and improved his record to 31-7, overall. Rivera's loss was his second straight defeat, and his record dips to 10-4.
