Matthews survives eye gouge to bang out decision over Jingliang

Jake Matthews' second straight victory nearly cost him an eye.

Despite getting gouged with his foe trapped in a guillotine choke in the second round, Matthews outslugged and outgrappled Li Jingliang to take a unanimous decision and improve to 2-0 since moving up to welterweight at UFC 221 in Perth on Saturday.

Jingliang went looking for a firefight in short order, only for Matthews to reciprocate with a left hand that put him on his hind parts before the Aussie pounced into full mount and rained down the ground-and-pound. Matthews took Jingliang's back as the Chinese native tried to scramble out of the precarious position, and had Jingliang in survival mode while he angled for a rear-naked choke until round's end.

Matthews took Jingliang into deep waters once more in the middle stanza, cracking him first, then securing an airtight guillotine choke Jingliang escaped with an apparently blatant and nasty eye gouge that went unpunished by the referee.

Matthews' offense dwindled somewhat following Jingliang's transgression, but he connected with wild haymakers on more than one occasion as Jingliang walked him down and let some of his own leather rip.

The 23-year-old Aussie put Jingliang on his hind parts all over again with a lunging right hand to open the third, and capped the impressive showing with a pair of takedowns that didn't amount to much, but won him the round and the verdict on all three scorecards.

Jingliang saw a four-fight win streak snapped with the decision.