Mike Jackson recalls illegal, spinning-kick to the groin in UFC return: ‘My balls were burning’

Mike Jackson recalls illegal, spinning-kick to the groin in UFC return: ‘My balls were burning’

Mike Jackson’s UFC return was a wild one, to say the least.

The UFC welterweight stepped in the octagon this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 205 in Las Vegas for the first time since June 2018. Fortunately for Jackson (1-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), he walked away with a win, but unfortunately not in the manner he hoped.

Jackson’s opponent, Dean Barry, was disqualified from the contest after a series of illegal moves in the first round, which included an eye gouge and a spinning kick to the groin.

“My balls were burning,” Jackson told MMA Junkie at the post-fight press conference. “They were burning hot for a little bit. Again, this is a fight and I don’t want to go out there with some burning balls and then this dude throws another spinning back kick and crushes me in the face or something because I wasn’t prepared. Then fast forward to the eye rake … dude.”

Jackson was hit with a shot to the groin that left him on the canvas in pain. The referee stopped the action and allowed Jackson to recover before continuing the action once again. That’s when the eye gouge happened and halted the action once again. “The Truth” was unable to continue fighting and was awarded a win via disqualification.

“I just didn’t expect two dick kicks and two fingers in the eye to open up the card,” Jackson said. “It’s crazy because as he’s raking me in the eye and I physically see his fingers in my eye. I never experienced that before. But yeah, it was a wild turn of events.

“I forgot who mentioned it in the back, but they were like, ‘Yeah, look who you are in this moment. It kind of makes sense.’ And I was like, ‘You know what, it does kind of make sense.’ It’s part of the course at this point.”

Jackson made his mark in MMA after being signed to the UFC with no professional MMA fights to face Mikey Gall in 2016 and then pro wrestling star CM Punk in 2018.

Jackson lost to Gall in 45 seconds at UFC Fight Night 82. He then returned to the octagon two years later to face CM Punk at UFC 225 where he won by unanimous decision, but later had his victory overturned by the Illinois commission after testing positive for marijuana.