Cat Zingano Officially Appeals TKO Loss to Megan Anderson at UFC 232

As expected, Cat Zingano has filed an appeal of her loss to Megan Anderson at UFC 232.

MMAjunkie.com obtained a copy of the document, which can be viewed here. Zingano is hoping to have her technical knockout defeat overturned to a no contest. The Dec. 29 featherweight bout was halted after a kick from Anderson injured Zingano’s eye 61 seconds into the opening frame.

While eye pokes from fingers are considered illegal under the unified rules of MMA, a strike to the eyes from a punch or kick doesn’t fall under the same category. Zingano’s attorney, Nathan Gable, argues in the appeal that the unified rules are not clear regarding eye gouges.

“The language of the Unified Rules regarding eye gouging is non exhaustive and the examples listed, namely ‘eye gouging by means of fingers, chin, or elbow,’ are not meant as the only methods by which a foul may occur,” Gable writes. “First, the language is plainly open ended, beginning with ‘eye gouging of any kind.…’ Had the Unified Rules intended to limit this foul to only the examples that followed and exclude toes from this foul, this rule would have been written with limiting language such as, ‘only eye gouging by means of fingers, chin, or elbow is illegal’ and omit the words ‘of any kind.’

“Additionally, had this rule been meant to limit this foul to only the examples that followed and exclude toes, then by the same logic, a thumb to the eye would not be foul as the rule merely mentions fingers, not thumbs.”

UFC 232 took place at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and was sanctioned by the California State Athletic Commission. Zingano is expected to have her appeal heard before CSAC at a hearing in February.

After the bout, Zingano revealed that the kick left her with a “damaged iris, damaged retina, hemorrhage in the back of my eye, increased globe pressure and of course the laceration.” If the defeat stands, Zingano will have lost four of her last five Octagon appearances.