Merab Dvalishvili has launched a serious accusation against Justin Gaethje following the latter’s win over Ilia Topuria. ‘The Highlight’ secured a stunning corner retirement victory over the former lightweight champion after battering Topuria relentlessly over four rounds on June 14 at the UFC Freedom 250 main event. But Merab refuses to believe skill played the bigger role in Gathje’s win over his fellow compatriot. The former UFC bantamweight champion has now alleged an illegal tactic as the reason why he refuses to accept Gaethje’s win over Topuria.

“Ilia was blind since [the] first round,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “And he was fighting with one eye, and then Justin Gaethje, great fighter, much respect for him, but he did eye poke Ilia one time… And then I think that affected Ilia. And then Ilia… he broke his nose and then the other eyeball, and Ilia was pretty much blind, nose broken, and he was still fighting hard.

“For me, Ilia is still [the] winner… Congratulations for Justin Gaethje. Hopefully, he is not going to retire and… they will have a rematch. I believe Ilia will win [the] rematch, or if they [fight in a] trilogy, Ilia will still be [the] winner.”

Even though Topuria did not complain at the time, as he should have, several slow-motion replays from the fight appear to show Gaethje landing an accidental or grazing eye poke on Topuria’s right eye during one of the exchanges. Since the former champ just kept rushing forward and fighting, there was no reason for the referee to presume something had happened or take note of it.

Merab Dvalishvili isn’t the only one who has accused ‘The Highlight’ of poking Ilia Topuria in the eye. After the bout, social media was littered with stills from the bout, showing accidental eye pokes from the fight. Since then, ‘El Matador’ has revealed what happened, though he refrained from labelling it an eye poke, which is illegal in MMA.

The Georgian-Spaniard claimed he went blind in his right eye, and as the fight progressed, his other eye met the same fate. Had Topuria alerted the referee about the eye pokes, the fight could have been stopped, and ‘The Highlight’ could also have received a point deduction for the illegal move. But that doesn’t mean the eye pokes were intentional.

Paddy Pimblett, after his brutal decision loss in January, also accused Justin Gaethje of eye pokes during their fight. At the time, he claimed that had it not been for “eye gouges and low blows and then faking low blows” during the fight, the outcome could have been different. Besides Paddy, former opponent Rafael Fiziev has also accused him of the same.

Rafael Fiziev claimed Gaethje only started winning their March 2023 fight “after an eye poke,” adding he “couldn’t see anything with my right eye.” So, there’s clearly a pattern in Gaethje’s bouts. But it’s worth noting that Dvalishvili and Topuria have long supported each other because of their shared Georgian origins. Merab has also traveled to Spain to train with Topuria. Meanwhile, Fiziev and Pimblett lost to him.

As a result, it’s hard to overlook the possibility of bias in their opinions on the matter. And it’s not as if ‘The Highlight’ himself hasn’t been on the receiving end of an eyepoke.

Justin Gaethje claims he has a reputation with the referees, recalling an eye poke during the Michael Chandler fight

The 37-year-old recently appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, where he reflected on his reputation among UFC referees and explained why he has often been critical of them. The newly-crowned lightweight champion said he expects officials to prioritize fighter safety above everything else. So, this has led to him earning a reputation for being demanding during fights.

To illustrate his point, Justin Gaethje revisited his November 2021 clash with Michael Chandler. During the bout, Chandler accidentally poked him in the eye late in the second round. But Gaethje felt the referee failed to intervene quickly enough before allowing the action to continue.

“I’ve been notorious for being really hard on these refs because you expect them to be perfect,” he told Joe Rogan. “Their main job is to protect you. When I fought Michael Chandler, I’ve never had a retraction from the referee. He poked me in the eye, and then the referee didn’t get in between us. He let him hit me with a huge shot, and then he didn’t give me my time to recover.”

Despite that, ‘The Highlight’ secured a unanimous decision victory. Still, the moment appears to have stuck with him. And it appears to show that Gaethje knows all too well what it is to be at the receiving end of an eye poke. But we still need to hear it from Topuria to determine whether it was the eye poke or the punches that took away his vision.