Sandhagen: I tried to ‘coach’ referee through stoppage at UFC Fight Nigh…
Cory Sandhagen: “He was defending himself, but not enough to my standard of defending yourself. I looked at the ref, I said, ‘Hey, he’s really hurt. He’s not doing anything.’”
UFC Fight Night 135 Cory Sandhagen survived a nasty armbar attempt by Iuri Alcantara, and came back to deliver a brutal beating in the Fight of the Night. There was widespread condemnation of referee Brandon Pfannenstiel for allowing the fight to go as long as he did, and the ref was reportedly pulled from officiating any further bouts that night.
During the post-fight scrum, Sandhagen told Mike Bohn and John Morgan for MMAjunkie that he attempted to ‘coach’ the referee into a stoppage.
I don’t know if I should say this or not, but I was on top punching, punching, punching him,” said Sandhagen. “He was defending himself, but not enough to my standard of defending yourself. I looked at the ref, I said, ‘Hey, he’s really hurt. He’s not doing anything.’ My coaches told me to throw big shots, I threw big shots, and then the ref called it.
I knew it was going to be wild and we were going to have to weather some storms. I always want to do better, even in the fights I do well. I went into that fight telling myself, ‘I’m not losing this fight. I do not care.’ So when he had me in that [armbar], it didn’t matter to me. I felt it pop; I felt it break. It didn’t matter to me. I wasn’t going to lose.
One more this year. I would like to be on a big card where I can really get my name out there. This was a big one for me. My name will be out there now, I believe. I want on a big card with some big names. Maybe at the end of the year in December? I don’t think I’ll be ready before that.
Afterward, Alcantara had successful surgery for a very broken nose.
Refereeing MMA is impossible to do perfectly. The best seat in the house has a tiny fraction of a second to balance a fighter’s livelihood and a fighter’s safety. Because MMA is a hurting game, the two are not fully compatible. If Pfannenstiel, an MMA fighter himself, let the fight go on, it was because he wanted to allow the fighter to do his job. However, the most prized quality in fighting is gameness, the desire to win greater than the desire to live. And that’s why refs have to so often cut a fighter’s purse in half, as difficult as it is.