Neil Magny (18-4) besegrade Hector Lombard (34-5-1) på UFC Fight Night 85 via TKO i tredje ronden. Många delar den åsikten att matchen borde ha stoppats tidigare och nu ger Magny sin syn på saken.
Magny berättar att han tycker att det är jobbigt att ge så sin motståndare så mycket stryk utan att matchen stoppas.
“As much as we’re in the sport to win, it’s hard as an individual to put that kind of damage on a guy and not have it stopped,” berättade Magny för MMAjunkie. “The ref is supposed to be there to protect the fighter, and he wasn’t in a position to protect himself at all, and the ref should have stepped in earlier, I thought.”
Tom Wright, UFC’s VD för verksamheter i Kanada, Australien and Nya Zeeland, delar Magnys åsikt och tycker också att matchen borde ha stoppats tidigare då Magny landade flera obesvarade slag.
“We were a lot concerned,” sa Wright. “I think Neil said it best: It’s the referee’s job to make sure the fight is stopped if the athlete can’t protect himself or herself. And I’m sitting not quite as close as the referee was, but I thought that fight should have been stopped, and it should have been stopped a long time before.”
Magny erkänner att han blev skadad av Lombard i första ronden och försökte hitta bra positioner för att kunna skydda sig själv.
“Once I got down to the mat, I was just finding a position to protect myself and find a way to get back to my feet and recover,” sa Magny. “I thought I was doing so by trying to protect myself against the cage, but then I started getting shots to the back of the head, so I just had to switch it up and try something different, because that defense wasn’t working.”
Magny har tio vinster i UFC och hoppas att kunna gå match mot någon som kan ge honom en titelchans vid vinst.
“If I had my way, I’d wait for a title fight opponent, and make a title run before the year’s over,” sa han.
Foto: Patrick Jenkinson
