Randa Markos has accused Luana Pinheiro of feigning the extent of her injury as the result of an illegal upkick at UFC On ESPN 23 this past weekend, which led to her being awarded a DQ victory.
“I’ve been in the fight game for a while now,” Markos wrote on Instagram. “I’ve never intentionally thrown a illegal blow. It’s a fight, shit is bound to happen.
“I took three eye pokes (requiring stitches and loss of vision) and never thought for a second that I wasn’t going to continue. I had such a good camp training with @travislutter, @cdpowertrain and @adams.justin1 in Texas and was ready to showcase my skills for the greatest fight promotion in the world. Yes my foot grazed her but that my opponents Inability to continue seemed a bit oversold and suspect. I let her know after the eye poke that I wasn’t leaving that cage without a win and she stole that from me.
“I’m excited about whatever is next. I have a tone of heart in me that needs to be let out. Thank you to everyone that helped me with this camp. I love you all and I’ll be back soon #ufc #quietstorm #mma #easywayout #littlebitch.”
Markos was far from the only person who questioned whether Pinheiro was as badly injured as she made out given that the upkick didn’t appear to make contact all that heavily.
Nevertheless, Pinheiro lay sprawled on the canvas for some time afterwards and then continued to appear groggy long after the fight was waved off and later was filmed being carried backstage by her coach.
Regardless of whether the injury was real or exaggerated, the reality is that Markos has now gone four fights without a win in the Octagon, and with her full UFC record now standing at just 6-10-1, she is now in real danger of being released from the promotion.
