Why Josh Koscheck Lost: An Eye Doctor's Perspective

Of course, I'm here to discuss reasons other than Georges St. Pierre's obvious superiority as an MMA fighter. After all, this eye doctor is unbiased and simply here to impart knowledge related to eyes and eye health.

So, why did  Josh Koscheck lose?

It all started early in the first round of the UFC 124 championship bout on Saturday evening. GSP began landing his lightning quick, left-handed jabs to the right side of Koscheck's face. By the end of the first round, his right eye was almost completely swollen shut.

Now, fighting with one eye closed presents multiple challenges. The first, and most obvious, is that Koscheck was not able to see attacks coming from his right side very well anymore. But what I believe to be a more difficult problem to adjust to is the loss of depth perception one encounters when both eyes are not open.

We need both eyes open and working together to perceive depth. Its the main concept behind 3-D movies. Koscheck was basically trying to fight GSP in 2 dimensions. That must have made it nearly impossible for him to judge not only the punches coming towards him but also the punches he was trying to throw (especially if that is his dominant eye).

Doctors confirmed that Koscheck suffered a broken orbital bone, which is serious injury that can result in damage to the muscles and nerves surrounding the eyeball. Also of concern in this case would be the potential for retinal detachments which could lead to blindness if not dealt with immediately.

Josh Koshcheck, it's time to see your eye doctor.

See also Mirko Cro Cop's Eye Injury before his previous fight with Frank Mir.

Mirko Cro Cop suffers serious eye injury

In recent days, while training for his heavyweight bout against Frank Mir at UFC 119, Mirko Cro Cop suffered a significant injury to his right eye. The picture below shows a gruesome image of what must a very painful eye.

MiddleEasy.com has an interview with UFC President Dana White discussing Cro Cop's situation. You'll see Dana mentions the doctors told him that the eye heals faster that any other part of the body. This is partially true. The cornea and the outer covering of the eye ball, the conjunctiva, heal very quickly (usually, a scratch or cut will heal within hours to a couple of days).

A corneal abrasion wouldn't lead to bleeding like you see in this image, so my guess would be a conjunctival laceration. Mirko was seen by multiple opthalmologists and cleared to fight at this weekend's event. For a guy like Cro Cop, its just a love tap :)