‘Very slim’ chance NAC will overturn Romero win

 Tim Kennedy @TimKennedyMMA

NAC 467.728 If a combatant fails or refuses to resume competing when the bell sounds…the referee shall award a decision of TKO

On 16 Feb 1966, in the fourth round, Henry Cooper hit Muhammad Ali right before the bell rang. Ali stumbled dazedly to his corner, and sat there on Queer Street. Ali’s cornerman Angelo Dundee tore the fighter’s glove, buying him long minutes to recover as another pair of gloves was found.

Saturday night Tim Kennedy’s strategy against Yoel Romero was working perfectly – survive the initial onslaught, while hitting Romero to the body, something that would hasten him tiring. Then attack with full force.

In the second round, Kennedy had Romero with nothing but the fence to hold him up, throwing accurate, head snapping shots, and the round ended.

When the rest period ended, Romero’s corner left, and the fighter remained on his stool. It looked as if he had quit. A confusing swirl followed, and after nearly 30 seconds he finally got up.

Body shots are cumulative – they add up over time. Head shots however generally pass fairly quickly – 90 seconds is like a weekend of bed rest for some other ailment.

And so it was that Romero won in the third.

An incensed Kennedy confronted Romero backstage, and tweeted the Nevada Athletic Commission rules.

Kennedy vowed to appeal to the Nevada Athletic Commission, arguing that he won the fight when Romero failed to get off his stool.

NAC Rule:

An unarmed combatant shall not leave the ring or, if the contest or exhibition is being held in a fenced area, the fenced area, during any period of rest that follows a period of unarmed combat. If an unarmed combatant fails or refuses to resume competing when the bell sounds signaling the commencement of the next round, the referee shall award a decision of technical knockout to his or her opponent as of the round which has last been finished, unless the circumstances indicate to the referee the need for investigation or punitive action, in which event the referee shall not give a decision and shall recommend that the purse or purses of either or both unarmed combatants be withheld.

NAC executive director Bob Bennett said it was unlikely the fight result would be overturned.

“They’re very seldom overruled,” said Bennett as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti. “The likelihood of an appeal being overturned is very slim. I’m not going to say it’s not going to happen, but like I initially said, it would be deferred to our legal department.”

Bennett opined that he felt the fight would have ended the same way without the rest, and praised referee John McCarthy, who was within his rights to disqualify Romero.

NAC chairman Francisco Aguilar likewise dismissed the appeal.

“It was a bunch of things all happening at once,” said Aguilar. “Our inspector had to get the grease off his face. Our inspector who was supposed to get the stool out didn’t get it out in time.”

UFC president Dana White recognized joint responsibility for what happened.

Any of you guys that have followed the sport for a long time, this is the dirtiest trick in the book, literally the dirtiest trick in the book, said White. What you do is you put on way too much Vaseline; you slow everything down; you don’t take the guys out of the corner. Everybody’s seen it happen many, many times.

It was our guy, the UFC cutman, that put the Vaseline on his eye. So that’s what throws the whole wrinkle in. Then you have a language barrier, there’s nobody in the corner that speaks [English], but I saw the guy from the commission, he was screaming, ‘get the hell outta here!’ I don’t care what language you speak, you know what ‘get the hell outta here means.’ You know what time you’re supposed to be out of the Octagon, you know how much time you had.”

“To be fair to him and his cornermen, it was our guy who globbed all that Vaseline on his eye. Really weird situation; extremely controversial.

Kennedy however was adamant that he won the fight.

“If you can’t get off the stool in a minute, the fight is over,” said Kennedy. “Not a minute and a half, not two minutes, not two and a half minutes while your coaches are still putting Vaseline on you and toweling you off. That fight should’ve been over, period.”

On a small point, Kennedy was incorrect, coaches are not allowed to apply vaseline in Nevada. There was excess vaseline applied to Romero, but it was by an independent cutman, not by the corner. Too much was applied to Romero and had to be wiped away. Further, the NAC inspector neglected to get the stool. All that still does not explain all of the extra 30 seconds.

In a post fight interview with Ariel Helwani, Romero professed innocence.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Romero. “When the referee said ‘go fight,’ I go. The problem is that the UFC, or somebody, give me the Vaseline. It was too much in my face, and the referee said, ‘hey, hey, hey, clean, clean.’ That’s what happened. When they said ‘come on, let’s go,’ I go to fight.”

And so he did, beating Kennedy by TKO at 0:58 of Round 3.

Then Kennedy got stitched up backstage, no Novocaine.

Dr. Greg Hsu ‏@UFCDoctor

@TimKennedyMMA is so tough in 10 yrs w/ @ufc. Sutured without ANY numbing injection. Did not move.

And that’s what happened to Tim Kennedy, no vaseline, no novocaine.

White was asked a possible rematch.

Who knows?” White replied. “I’ll have to see how [Romero] feels. I’m sure Kennedy wants a rematch, but you can’t take anything away from the guys. It was an awesome fight.

Fight highlights: