Nate Maness recalls repeated low blows

UFC on ESPN+ 31 was notable in a number of regards, not the least of which was the low blows. It got so bad that the commentary team kept a running count until they lost count. No one got dick kicked more that Nate Maness, who was making his big show debut, vs. fellow newcomer Johnny Munoz.

Welcome to the UFC … ***kick to the jimmy*** rinse repeat. Referee Mark Smith eventually deducted a point from Munoz in Round 3; the final score was 29-27 by all judges, so the penalty was not decisive. Maness talked about it at the post-fight press conference.

Man, I guess I feel good, said a smiling Maness. It’s been a really crazy week, a really crazy fight. I’ve never been low-blowed in 10 years of fighting, so to have six or seven here tonight, it’s a little different.

I didn’t think he was going to take a point. I felt like he was a pretty good ref in there, but I think I had to do a bit of complaining for me to actually get a little justice. There were three or four that didn’t even get called. You obviously don’t want to win like that – I wish it didn’t happen, too – but yeah, I wasn’t sure if he was going to call anything or not.

I didn’t want him to take a break. I could hear him breathing when we were up against the cage, and my main thing was I’ve got to keep pushing, I’ve got to keep pushing. I’ve got to be in his face. I’ve got to keep pushing the issue. I don’t want him to rest, and that’s really what got me through it.

The first one hurt pretty bad. The second, it just kind of hit me, and I got my breath pretty close. The third one actually put me on my butt for a minute, and there were two or three in there that didn’t even get called. There was a lot – against the fence, knees. We can watch it. He wanted to watch the replay – we can do that. Me and him can sit down together and watch the replay. It was kind of crazy.

I had to keep him off of me to win this fight. I felt like I did a decent job of that once I got a feel for him in that first round. Nothing really surprised me, though. That was a tough fight.”

I thought it was really close; just being honest. I feel like it could have went either way. He was a really tough kid. You have those fights sometimes. We’re at the highest level.

I’d love to fight one more time this year, for sure. If they need somebody to step up, I’m going to try to stay ready, rest a week or two. I have a (few) little knocks here and there. But yeah, I’m ready to go.

I know there’s a couple of ’35ers on the card with me. Cody Durden just got the call; I’ve tried to fight him a couple of times. Me and him can run it. If Ray Borg wants to show up, we can run it. I’m ready to go.

h/t Simon Head and Ken Hathaway for MMA Junkie