Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 178 was wildly exciting, but also suffered from one of the most controversial endings of the year.
The second round closed with Romero out on his feet, Kennedy firing away. When the third round started, Romero was on his seat, perhaps too dazed to know what was going on. His corner failed to take the stool, but then, the fighter was still sitting on it. Then referee John McCarthy came over to get the fighter up (McCarthy was at that point within his rights to disqualify Romero) and noticed that the UFC’s cutman had placed too much grease on the fighter. By the time it was sorted out, very nearly 30 seconds had passed, which is a vast length of time when it comes to recovering from a head shot.
Kennedy, who thought he had won, lost via strikes in the third round. Adding to the controversy, a replay shows that Kennedy’s fingers clearly slipped between Romero’s wrist and the glove, creating an effective and illegal drip that allowed Kennedy to land some hard shots.
Now in an interview with Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting, Romero argues that rather than the extra 30 seconds, he should have been awarded up to a full five minutes to recover.
“Look at the video,” said Romero through an interpreter. “He was holding my glove illegally. When I’m against the cage, Tim Kennedy held my glove and when he holds the glove, he got lucky and I escaped before the referee saw it. Then I did it to Kennedy. When I did it to Tim Kennedy, he told the referee, ‘He held my glove.’”
“When an athlete hits the opponent illegally, the opponent that gets hit gets five minutes of a break to recover. Had McCarthy seen the glove grab, under recently amended Nevada State Athletic Commission rules do allow for up to a five minute break in the case of accidental fouls. Note: Previous information that the five minute rule is for low blows only is incorrect.
“The people who made the mistake were the cutmen from the UFC. The referee noticed too much Vaseline. The cutman was already leaving and McCarthy called him back to clean off the Vaseline. He noticed the cutman already leaving. When the cutman leaves, who’s supposed to take the Vaseline off my cut? My cornermen and trainer were there, but they’re not qualified to take off the Vaseline from my cut. The one who cleans and puts on Vaseline is only the cutman from the UFC. McCarthy insisted and my trainer said, ‘OK, I’ll take it off.’”
“The people who critique me are the people who don’t know about the sport. They don’t really know about the rules of MMA. They aren’t a real fan or follower of the sport or they’re just people who like to talk.”
“This is nothing personal. If the UFC matchmaker puts me against Tim Kennedy, I will do it. I have no problem with that. I have nothing against nobody in the UFC. This is a sport for me.”
“I’m not mad and I’ve never been mad that people think I’m cheating. To be sincere, I’ve never been mad about what anyone thinks.”
Yoel Romero fights Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC 184 on Feb. 28. The winner likely gets a shot at the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort, that takes place on the main card.
