Nate Diaz explains eye injury that 'screwed him' in Ben Henderson fight at UFC on FOX 5

All those mixed martial arts (MMA) fans who were disappointed that Nate Diaz wasn't able to get any offense going in his lightweight title fight against Ben Henderson last Saturday night at UFC on FOX 5 in Seattle, say "eye."

The former division number one contender was "screwed" early in the fight, after the champion landed a "Smooth" punch right on the peeper during their KeyArena headliner on the network television broadcast. While Diaz was hoping for a quick recovery, things just went from bad to worse.

From the UFC on FOX 5 post-fight press conference:

"I didn't perform the way I wish I could have. I got a punch in the eye pretty early in the fight and things were blurry. They never came back. I was waiting for it to recover, and when it did I was going to come back strong. But it never did. Ben did great. He landed the good shot early. It was blurry. I was screwed. If I would have tried to get up with anything, or tried to aggress too hard, I think things could've gotten worse. Like I said, I was trying to wait for the eye to recover, until I could see straight. Because I knew it was coming back and I knew I was going to come back strong from it, but I never did. I ran out of time with it, and it sucks. But whatever, that's what happens."

Henderson dominated Diaz for the duration of the fight, punishing him with leg kicks and nuetrazling his jiu-jitsu on the ground with a smothering attack that mixed high-level wresting with efficient ground-and-pound. Outside of a few leg lock submssion attempts, it was a fairly lopsided affair.

Better a punch than a toothpick.

To see fight video highlights from last weekend's main event click here. For a full fight review and analysis click here. To catch all the action from UFC on FOX 5: "Henderson vs. Diaz" including recaps, videos, commentary and more click here.