Count Joe Rogan among those who believe Li Jingliang was insufficiently punished for his intentional eye-gouge in a loss to Jake Matthews at UFC 221 this past weekend.

During a welterweight fight against Jake Matthews (12-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) at UFC 221 at Perth Arena in Australia, Jingliang (14-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) gruesomely stuck his fingers into his opponent’s eyes to escape from a guillotine. It worked, and he faced no repercussions.

Not only did referee Mark Simpson not penalize Jingliang for the blatant foul, but he hardly even acknowledged it. He merely attempted to swipe Jingliang’s hand away while it clawed Matthews’ face.

Longtime UFC commentator Rogan wasn’t calling the UFC 221 fights. However, he did watch from home. On a recent edition of the “JRE MMA Show” podcast, he addressed the situation.

“I thought it was f-cking bullsh-t,” Rogan said. “You can’t let a guy get away with that, or he’s going to do it again. … You don’t do it that way. You tap. It’s straight up cheating; it’s not just shady. It’s cheating.

“They should tell him, ‘If this ever happens again, if you ever think you’re going to do this again, we’re going to kick you out of the league.’ You can’t do that. You can’t gouge someone’s eye when they’re choking you.”

Eye-pokes are commonplace in MMA due to MMA gloves having exposed fingers. Issues typically only occur during striking exchanges, but Jingliang did something outside of the box, and it only benefitted him.

Jingliang may have ultimately suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Matthews, but he avoided being submitted. Escaping the choke allowed Jingliang to continue to fight and make it to the final bell, which was likely a major contributing factor in UFC officials deeming the contest UFC 221’s “Fight of the Night,” which netted both fighters $50,000 bonuses.

“It felt like the fingers were in long enough for him to know the fingers were in there,” Rogan said. “The referee f-cked up. The UFC should do something. Someone should do something. Maybe, even in Nevada? You’ve got to look at that and go, ‘Hey man, you can’t ever do this again. And we have to fine you. You should be suspended, and if you ever do this again, you’re out.’ You can’t gouge someone’s eyes. They’ll lose their vision. We can’t have any leniency whatsoever toward intentional eye-gouging. Zero.”

Rogan said Jingliang should have been disqualified.

“Every time an eye-poke happens, whether it’s intentional or not, take a point away,” Rogan said. “I think it’s a good move. Eye-gouges like that, I think is grounds for disqualification. You can’t allow any room for that. Guys are going to get blind. It could happen. Most guys are completely ethical and would never think of doing this.”

For complete coverage of UFC 221, check out the UFC Events section of the site.