Issue 087

In his first column for THFE, respected cut master ‘Stitch’ discusses Josh Koscheck’s memorable eye injury. Could it have been cut open like in Rocky?

Some movie quotes just stick with us. Everyone knows them. The first that pops into my head is from Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson): “You can’t handle the truth!” Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr) comes to mind too as he yells: “Show me the money.” And how could any of us forget The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger): “I’ll be back.”

Then there’s one that might not be as famous, but to all us guys and girls who love ass kickers, we know it by heart, and most of us thought of it on December 11th. It goes like this and comes from Rocky (Sylvester Stallone): “I can’t see nothin’ I gotta open my eye. Cut me, Mick...You don’t wanna do it? Go on, cut me.”

Mick [Sly’s fictional trainer] cut Rocky’s eyelid so he could see and he went out for the 15th round to finish off an epic performance against the champ Apollo Creed. The reason most of us thought of this moment in movie history last December is courtesy of Georges St Pierre’s snapping jab and Josh Koscheck’s swollen and mangled right eye at UFC 124.

I received many questions on Twitter and through email about the eye. The one I heard most: “Why didn’t Leon Tabbs (who was working Koscheck’s corner) cut him so he could see?” 

I’ll answer that question soon, but first I’d like to cover some of my thoughts on the injury and how to treat it. If you’ll remember, Josh’s eye started swelling almost immediately. By the end of the first round it was already looking ugly. I knew right away that the swelling could not be reduced; only controlled.

Vaseline, the enswell (this is the metal implement that looks like a miniature iron; I use my own KO Swell and an ice pack are the cutman’s only tools in the battle against swelling. As I looked at Josh’s eye, I knew Leon was definitely going to have a battle on his hands. When there is swelling early and it’s on the top and the bottom, that’s usually not good. 

Depending on the swelling, the KO Swell will work wonders. The proper way to use it is direct pressure. A lot of the old-school cutmen try to apply direct pressure and press away. They think that you can move the swelling away from the eye, but in actuality it is just damaging the tissue further. And guess what, the swelling always returns to its original place! Cold, direct pressure is the proper technique.

It’s important to concentrate on the eyelid most because it swells faster than the cheek and can cause vision loss in a hurry. You may have noticed that in the later rounds Leon was using an ice pack.

This is exactly what I would have done. By the third round I would have used an ice pack on the top and the KO Swell on the bottom of the eye.

It was after the third when the doctor came in to look at Josh’s eye.

The fight could have been stopped, but I believe the doctor was influenced by the corner and the fans. It’s the corner’s job to influence him not to stop it, but the doctor has to make a medical decision and at that point Josh couldn’t see, plus he was getting his ass served to him on a plate. Also, at one point the doctor should have applied pressure with his fingers to see if Josh showed any signs of pain. This is a solid indicator of a broken orbital bone. I had a pretty good idea that Josh’s was broke when Leon tried to apply the ice and he kept moving away from it. 

As a side note, sometimes fighters want to blow their nose between rounds. Not a good idea! I was with Lyoto Machida after ‘Shogun’ Rua knocked him out earlier this year and Lyoto blew his nose.

His eye ballooned shut because air got inside the damaged tissue and membrane. There is no pain when this happens, but it’s hard to treat during a fight. 

Swelling is a b*tch! I don’t care how good of a cutman you are, it can make your job extremely tough. You can reduce minor swelling, but when the eye is receiving constant blows and it continues to increase in size you will not be able to move it out of the way, as the old theory goes. Keep your composure and your ice pack, KO Swell and Vaseline handy because you will need at least two, maybe even all three, to give the fighter ‘one more round.’

And speaking of one more round, Mick gave it to Rocky when he cut him open, but is it a good idea in real life? The answer is a definite no! Cutting the eye like Mick creates two problems: the swelling will still be there to some degree and you’ll have to deal with blood in the eye.

It could cause nerve or tissue damage and you might accidentally cut other veins. Besides, we’re cutmen, not doctors. We don’t carry scalpels.