LAS VEGAS – Things were going very well for Andre Fili at UFC Fight Night 190 until they weren’t.
Fili (21-8 MMA, 9-7 UFC) was battering Daniel Pineda (27-14 MMA, 4-5 UFC) in their featherweight contest on Saturday until he inadvertently poked him in the eye in the opening minute of Round 2.
While he was willing to continue, Pineda was having trouble seeing out of his left eye, and doctors rendered him unable to continue. As a result, the fight was ruled a no contest, and Fili only took home half a paycheck, despite his stellar performance.
“I’m gutted,” Fili told MMA Junkie post-fight at UFC Fight Night 190. “I really think I would have finished him in that second, and I think I would have gotten a performance bonus, and I think I deserved it off the way I was fighting. I’m also pretty annoyed because I’m not an eye-poke guy. That was my 30th fight, and I’ve never poked anyone in the eye, not that I can remember.
“I was just trying to frame off his face, and it slipped up into his eye, and it was nasty. I know Pineda, the kind of fighter he is. He wasn’t really looking for a way out. He’ll fight to the death. That motherf*cker ain’t worried about it, so he was trying his best to let the doctors let him fight. It looked like the doctors thought about it and just said no. I’m gutted, man.”
Fili, who hadn’t competed since October, was struggling to get a fight booked before he was paired with Pineda. With his return to action ending in such disappointing fashion, Fili said he didn’t get his full release and wants to get back in the cage as soon as possible.
And despite being en route to a lopsided win or finish, he’s willing to run things back with Pineda.
“That’s up to him and his camp,” Fili said on a rematch. “They seem like great dudes. I don’t really know where he stands. I would like to run it back, or give me someone else. I just want to fight. I want to make money. I want to be active. I want to cement a legacy. I want to do all these things, and this felt like my coming out party – and it’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to, I guess.”
Andre Fili ‘gutted’ with no contest due to eye poke, willing to run things back with Daniel Pineda