Am I debating whether UFC 106 actually happened? No!

However, with a laundry list of mishaps occurring on what inevitably became a great night of fights; a few missteps left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Namely, the eye-poke hear round world, Anthony Johnson against Josh Koscheck.

In a fight that had all the making for something stellar inevitably became something no-filler, at best. The anti-Koscheck band wagon would have been put in a happy place had the enigmatic and always exciting "Rumble" Johnson delivered on what was supposed to be an exciting performance, however, these two Californian juggernauts battled hard, hard and erroneously.

The opening frame was more feeler than anything, with both men sizing each other up with jabs and feints before committing to anything significant. Safe for a few of Koscheck's looping right-handers, the bout was beginning to swing in early favor for Anthony when he was able to stuff the shots of the former Division I NCAA Wrestling Champion, showcasing his own ground savvy (or so we thought).

After Johnson had tagged Koscheck with a right-hand of his own, all seemed to be in the bag until a poorly timed knee to Josh's dome while his knees were still on the ground, was deemed inadvertent and obviously foul-like.

Immediately, the AKA product winced in pain, proclaiming to have injured his left eye during the foray. Thank God for instant replay. When the initial knee from Johnson launched, it appeared it had connected to Koscheck in a way that would deem the fight to stop in appropriate fashion, yet the replay clearly showed that not only did Johnson's knee not hit the Josh's eye...it made no contact to his head, at all.

"I didn't hit him in the head! I hit him in the arm" said Johnson, following the event while speaking with the UFC post-fight crew.

"So I don't know why he was acting like-I guess he was gassing. That's the only thing I can think of, about trying to find some excuse to complain, but I know I didn't hit him in the head. I thought I would have timed it perfect (the knee) but I didn't and that's my fault".

Heading into the second round, after a first round scare where it appeared that the fight would be waved off after the in-ring doctor approached referee Herb Dean, Koscheck and Johnson had picked up where they left off-with another foul, this time Josh as the instigator.

Flashbacks of Johnson's initial meeting with Kevin Burns were almost brought again to reality when after a restart of action following the eye poke delivered by Koscheck was proceeded yet again with another, making Anthony Johnson 0-2 on the vision department whereas Josh had bludgeoned both his left and right eye.

Like a dog in heat, the bay-area native quickly pounced on his wounded foe once the action was restarted (again), took his opponent down, opening up Johnson with heavy elbows from up-top before moving to his back and locking in a fight-ending rear naked choke.

Did the pokes have an effect in the outcome of the fight? Just ask Anthony Johnson:

"After he poked me in the eye, it made a big difference. He did it twice and he got both eyes the second time. When he swings, he jabs with his open hand. The right didn't even hit me, it was the open-palm strike, it my eye-my eyes are burning like hell right now. I could've said yeah, I should taken more time, I could've said yeah I should've kept going because I had some momentum going because I hurt him in the fight. I guess after I hurt him, he needed that. He needed some kind of excuse to recover, but it's all good".

I'm a firm believer in referees, judges and the athletic commission's abilities as a sanctioning body existing there, were put in place by a higher authority to ensure the safety of the fighters safety and well-being.

But it appears that now more than ever, a re-vamp is imperative for fair competition and respect for the fighters whom dedicate themselves hopelessly to a sport that seems to do so much less for them in return.

Kudos to the UFC brass for rewarding Johnson with a going away gift of 70 grand for his troubles.

Stay tuned for Part 2, highlighting the main event with Tito vs Forrest DOS.