Cortney Casey: If I wanted out, why would I tell MD I was fine to continue?

A completely down Cortney Casey appeared to get kicked in the head by Claudia Gadelha at UFC Fight Night 100 on Saturday. She looked stunned and after a break and conferring with doctors at Octagonside, Casey determined to continue the fight. she ended up losing 30-27.

Curiously, referee Fernando Portello did not issue a warning to Gadelha, or penalize her a point. The Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission’s COO Cristiano Sampaio later said the referee acted as he did, Because the kick didn’t land, the athlete forged the injury.”

A bewildered Casey, whose cage name is “Cast Iron,” spoke with Chuck Mindenhall for MMA Fighting and said the kick to the head was real as it looked.

“In my head, I’m thinking this is a ‘no-contest.’ I’m not going to go out like that. That’s not me at all,” she said.

“I could fight tomorrow if they needed me to. Yeah, I lost 30-27 on the scorecards. But it wasn’t a fight. I wasn’t getting beaten up like Nogueira. There was no need for me to try and get an out. And if I wanted an out, then why would I tell the doctor I was fine to continue? That wasn’t going through my head at all.”

“The only thing I remember ever being said to me was the doctor coming in and saying, ‘you can continue,’ and I just said, ‘yes, I can continue.’ I heard my cornerman telling me, ‘take your five, take your five,’ and that was it.”

“[Gadelha] apologized right away, like when we started the round again she apologized. After the fight, she came up to me, before they announced that she was the winner, she apologized to me.”

“At the end of the day, I got kicked. I’m not asking for a point deduction, I was never saying that the fight should be overturned, none of that. So I don’t know why everyone is yelling at me, and blaming me, like I’m going out saying all this stuff. I haven’t said anything, other than I got kicked in the head.

“For people to question my character after all that, and then after them knowing that no one else wanted to take this fight against Gadelha, for them to tell me I was trying to get an out? It sucks.”

Sampaio released a second message, saying that there was no judgment of Casey’s character.

“Due to the repercussion on the incident between Courtney and Gadelha on UFC Bader vs Minotouro, held in São Paulo/SP on November 19th, 2016, The Brazilian Athletic Commission (CABMMA) would like to clearly state that it does not, in its role as a regulator, judge the character of any competitor, enroll on false public accusations with the intent to jeopardize their history or future in the sport, and most certainly does not analyze any other circumstance which is not directly related to the regulation of the event, the license athletes and other professionals involved in their responsibility,” wrote Sampaio.

“The major concern with the incident was to apply the correct judgement call, interpreted by the referee, Commission and medical staff, using their knowledge and commission´s guidelines, and additional resources, which in this case, replays shown in different angles, on the exact moment of the incident.

Finally, if the interpretation of the decision upon the conclusion of the fight has been interpreted in a different and distorted way beyond what was officially meant to, which was to determine the correct call, it should be condemned and discarded.

“CABMMA stands by its decision related to this case, but reppels and fully disagrees with any negativity towards Courtney Casey’s character as a professional women athlete of MMA.