Junior dos Santos lost to Ciryl Gane at UFC 256 on Saturday via referee stoppage. The finish generated some controversy, as the rules around strikes to the back of the head are not as clear as they are for, say, an eye poke. One standard to judge whether a blow landed cleanly is whether contact was made with the ear. If there was none, then it’s an illegal blow, if there was, likely not. There was contact with the ear, but it was via the elbow/forearm, which has a far greater striking surface than does a fist. Further, both fighters bear responsibility in these circumstances – you can’t hit the back of the head, but neither can the struck fighter turn away mid-attack.
If you want to know what is going in with MMA in Brazil, and with fighters from the birthplace of MMA, Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting is the source. In his first post-loss comments, Cigano spoke with Cruz about what happened.
UG, watch what happened (from one angle) and then read on.
https://twitter.com/blue_fighting/status/1337963664201101312
I was supposed to fight more on the inside, but didn’t exactly follow the plan, said dos Santos. I should have closed the distance and grappled, too, but fought in a longer distance mostly because of our movement, especially his.
I’ve always accepted my defeats with humbleness. If someone is better than me, there’s nothing I can do, especially in this division, where the hand lands and the person goes down. But the situation there, the way it was, and everybody thinking that’s ok… By everybody I mean so-called MMA specialists considering it a legal strike. To me, that’s very frustrating.
The athletic commission’s argument – they said it also connected to the ear so it’s valid – but it was his forearm, closer to the hand, that hit my ear, but the elbow connected exactly to the back to my head.’
People saying I turned my head, to me, is absurd. I already was sideways, he was kind of holding me in that position for about 10 seconds, so when he threw the elbow, I don’t think it was intentional, he didn’t mean to land the elbow to the back of my head, I don’t think that, but it doesn’t make it legal.”
I turned because of that jab that he landed, and I wasn’t hurt. They said I was, but I turned and walked so I wouldn’t get hurt again. Maybe it’s the wrong way to defend, I don’t know, but what is wrong and what is right? Who’s in there to say it?”
It’s also absurd that they expect me to accept this result as a normal result, like a fair result. It wasn’t. … The very least the referee could do was stop the fight and give me time to recover and then the fight would continue. … They stop worrying about your health and safety when you’re going through a complicated situation in the company? That’s very complicated. I haven’t opened up about it yet, I’m talking to you about it now because it’s been difficult to absorb, you know?
I’ll ask you this, if it was the other way around, if it was me landing that elbow to the back of his head, do you really think they would have handled it the same way? Of course not. It would have been some kind of reprisal right away because of the moment.”
Dos Santos’ comments about referee Jerin Velal officiating based on the unexplained complicated situation JDS has with the UFC is factually incorrect and insulting. Whether the blow was illegal or not can be debated. But generally, bout outcomes are changed only in one of three discrete circumstances:
•Collusion (a ref was bribed, for example);
•A math error (scorecard was added up incorrectly); and,
•Official ignorance of a rule (Ref didn’t know the back of the head definition).
None of these criteria were met, and the decision will stand. And the elbow was ambiguous to a degree. And hopefully, Junior dos Santos is not cut.
