For all my bitching about GSP suffering from a serious case of flaccid finishing skills, the truth is he did kinda take out Koscheck: ESPN confirms that egg under Koscheck’s eye from round 2 onwards was a broken orbital bone.

UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck suffered a broken orbital bone during the first round of his championship fight versus Georges St. Pierre (21-2) Saturday night in Montreal, a source told ESPN.com.

Koscheck (15-5) was released from a Montreal-area hospital Sunday afternoon, according to his trainer, Bob Cook. He cannot fly home to San Jose, Calif., because an air pocket formed behind the broken orbital bone, making air travel dangerous. UFC officials arranged for Koscheck and Cook to drive Sunday afternoon from Montreal to Boston, where the 33-year-old fighter is expected to undergo surgery Monday or Tuesday.

Some are comparing the injury to the damage dished out by Manny Pacquiao against Antonio Margarito, but let’s not get too crazy about St Pierre’s magical jabs. The key point is many said Margarito’s corner did him a disservice letting him continue the fight because a broken face in boxing has a decent chance of ending your career. I have no idea how it compares in MMA but your orbital bone kinda holds your eyeball in place so it’s just a little important.

The big question coming out of this is “Should the fight have been stopped?” Yeah, it should have been. The ringside physician took a damn close look at the eye and certainly wanted to stop the fight, but Josh Koscheck did everything he could to show he wanted to keep fighting. If he was as good of a doctor as he was a Santa Claus impersonator, then he must have known the orbital was probably broken. And while everyone was certainly happy at the time that he let things continue, it’s pretty messed up in hindsight that the fight was allowed to keep going.

(image by Esther Lin via MMA Fighting)