A huge foul took place during a welterweight fight between Jake Matthews and Li Jingliang at UFC 221 in Perth, Austrailia on Saturday night, but the referee made a shocking decision in response to the rule-breaking committed. 

During the fight, Matthews was in a position that allowed him to execute a guillotine choke on Li. With his hands free, the Chinese fighter managed to get out of the hold, but he did so by means which many UFC fans will think is dirty and disgusting.

Li used his hands to gouge in the eyes of Matthews while still in the guillotine choke. As a result, Matthews’ eyelid was cut, and his vision was blurred, allowing Li to break the hold and get on top of the Austrailian.

As you can see in the image below, it's not a pleasant sight. However, what is even more surprising is that the referee was right on top of this and saw it happen but decided not to stop the action, which meant Li was able to get out of the hold.

Rather than disqualifying or taking a point off Li, the official just spoke to him after the round ended and the fight continued. All the referee did was give him a verbal warning, saying that with one more foul, he would take a point away.

Despite the fact his vision was now blurred due to the eye gouging, Matthews managed to go on and win the match, winning the fight via decision. He was awarded the Fight of the Night award as well, taking home an extra $50,000 for his efforts.

After the fight, the Austrailian didn't hold any grudge against Li for the eye gouging, as he said via Bloody Elbow: “No hard feelings at all,” after picking up the win, while also adding things naturally happen on the heat of the fight and people will do anything to survive.

Matthews has now improved to a 12-3 record with his second straight victory, while the loss meant Li's four-fight win streak was snapped.