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Paulo Costa blasts ‘shameful’ Jeremy Stephens for discontinuing after eye poke: He shouldn’t be allowed in UFC

Jeremy Stephens found himself on the receiving end of a fight-ending eye poke landed by Yair Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 159, and the MMA veteran has come under fire from top middleweight contender Paulo Costa.

Costa, who is expected to fight the winner of next month’s highly anticipated middleweight title unification bout between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya, said ‘Lil Heathen’ should no longer be allowed to compete in the UFC following the result of last night’s anticlimactic main event in Mexico City.

What Costa fails to acknowledge is that Stephens was unable to open his left eye, which means the 33-year-old ultimately had no say in the doctor’s stoppage.