UFC 269: Gillian Robertson Responds to Eye Gouge, Gives Origin of “Throat Cuddles”

Las Vegas, NV — Gillian Robertson had a record-setting performance at UFC 269, but she had to overcome adversity and some dirty tricks to do it.

The Canadian was paired up with Brazilian Priscila Cachoeira on Saturday, earning a buzzer-beating rear-naked choke submission at the very end of the opening round. That gave her sole possession of the UFC women’s submissions record, with five, pulling ahead of Mackenzie Dern.

“It’s nice to be on top, and I hope that I can push that record to where nobody’s going to be able to catch me,” Robertson (10-6) said in response to the record, speaking post-fight to media outlets including Cageside Press.

In terms of adversity, Robertson’s opponent both missed weight, then tried to eye gouge her way out of the submission that finished the fight. Asked what was going through her head as Cachoeira’s thumb sank into her eye, “I’m definitely just hoping that the ref stops the fight at that point,” Robertson responded. “I don’t think he even gave her a warning, because there’s two that I felt were pretty decent, like thumb straight in my eye. Before the first one, I felt her body go limp a little bit, so I thought she was out. And then I felt the thumb go straight in my eye.”

Ever the laid back, easy-going fighter, the good-natured Robertson still embraced her opponent following the fight. But while it’s nothing personal, Robertson did note that the weight miss meant Cachoeira had failed at one of her jobs.

“Literally as a fighter, you have two jobs. You have to make weight, and you have to show up,” Robertson explained. “So it’s like she failed at doing one of those jobs. I definitely don’t think that’s an okay thing, but it is what it is, and I still got the win, still went out there and did what I needed to do, so nothing I can complain about.”

Besides that, Robertson doesn’t really feel the weight differential would have mattered. “I don’t think if she had five, ten, twenty pound on me, it’s going to make a difference. I’d still be better than her at the end of the day, so that’s all that mattered to me.”

After the submission win, Robertson was once again thrilled at getting some “throat cuddles” in, and explained the origin of that particular term.

“It’s just me and my friends joking around. I always said I’d just give them a gentle cuddle, until you fall asleep. So it’s essentially that, just a gentle throat cuddle.”

Watch the full UFC 269 post-fight media appearance with Gillian Robertson above. More coverage from the event can be found below.