Former UFC contender George Sotiropoulos’ nine-year return spoiled by brutal eye poke

Well, that was disappointing.

Former UFC Lightweight standout, George Sotiropoulos, came out of a nine-year mixed martial arts (MMA) retirement this weekend (Fri., May 26, 2023) against Josh Togo at HEX Fight Series 26 from inside Melbourne Pavilion in Australia.

Unfortunately, the fight ended via “No Contest” in the second round because of an accidental eye poke, which caused frustration within the building because the referee did not check Togo’s eye after the poke.

See it for yourself below:

After competing on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 6, Sotiropoulos had 11 fights in UFC between 2007 and 2013, going on an impressive seven-fight win streak. However, the seven-fight run inside the Octagon would be his peak as he would lose a unanimous decision to Dennis Siver at UFC 127 and then not win another fight until he retired in 2014 when he lost to Mike Ricci outside of UFC.

There is no doubt that Sotiropoulos was a pioneer in Australian MMA and laid the path for eventual Australian UFC superstars such as Alexander Volkanovski, among others. The 45-year-old has not commented if he will continue to fight or return to retirement.

For more regional MMA news and notes click here. And you can watch the entire fight at Fite.TV.