There is a really hot topic in MMA right now and fire around that topic ignited even more this past weekend at UFC 321. In the main event, Tom Aspinall (15-3, 1 NC) and Ciryl Gane (13-2, 1 NC) fought to a No Contest after Aspinall couldn’t continue after getting poked in the eye.
After the fight was over, the MMA community has been giving their opinions on fouls and how they should be handled moving forward. Folks like Ariel Helwani have stated that if a foul occurs and it results in the fight being called, regardless of intent, the fight should be a disqualification.
So in the case of the UFC 321 main event, Helwani believes that Aspinall should have won by DQ. Some have pointed to the title fight a few years ago between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan that ended in a DQ and saw Sterling become the bantamweight champion.
In that fight, Sterling was a grounded opponent and the referee relayed that information to Yan. Despite that warning from the referee, Yan fired a knee to the head of Sterling and damaged him to the point where he couldn’t continue. Sterling won the fight by DQ and became the champion.
There is gray area where it comes down to interpreting intent. In the case of Petr Yan, it was said that he intentionally fouled Sterling after getting a warning so the fight was a DQ. In the case of Ciryl Gane at UFC 321, it was deemed that he didn’t intend to poke Aspinall so the fight was a No Contest. This is the typical route whenever a foul ends the fight.
How should fouls be handled in the UFC?
Of course, the biggest debate is around how to handle fouls that don’t end the fight. If a foul occurs and it’s deemed intentional but the fight isn’t over, a point is usually going to be taken. However, when a foul isn’t intentional, we’ve seen fighters get multiple warnings before a point is taken and I think that’s a problem.
We did see some tremendous officiating over the weekend where points were taken after a foul occurred even if it was the first foul with no prior warning. Meanwhile at UFC Edmonton, Kevin Holland suffered two horrible low blows from Mike Malott that damaged him really bad and yet, Dan Miragliotta didn’t take a point from Malott.
He absolutely should’ve taken a point and instead of Kevin Holland having a decision loss on his record, he should’ve had a draw on his record. Last weekend was a step in the right direction and I think the decision needs to be made that fouls should lead to point deductions immediately.
A system needs to be in place that takes the referee’s discretion out of it. Very rarely will a fighter intentionally foul their opponent. Like with football, it’s extremely rare that you’ll see someone intentionally grab the facemask of their opponent to tackle them. That said, regardless of intent, the flag is thrown and the player is penalized.
This is professional fighting and there needs to be immediate consequences when a foul occurs. The only time I think discretion should come into play from the officials is when the fight is over. If a fighter intentionally fouls despite warnings, I think a DQ is warranted in that situation.
If a fight ends due to an unintentional foul, but the fighter had committed multiple fouls throughout the fight such as low blows or eye pokes, I think a DQ is warranted. However, in a situation like the UFC 321 main event, I think there is absolutely still a place for a No Contest.
I don’t think a fighter should be given a DQ win automatically due to one unintentional foul. I truly believe you’d see some fighters look to pull a Diego Sanchez / Michel Pereira and try to get a win that way in a fight where they don’t believe they will win if it continues.
Bottom Line
At the end of the day, everyone has an opinion on this. I truly think that fouls should automatically lead to point deductions regardless of intent. If fouls rack up throughout a fight on one side, a DQ should absolutely be on the table. If a foul is intentional and it ends the fight, a DQ should occur. However, the No Contest should still be available in situations like Saturday’s main event.
We have to get rid of referees giving fighters multiple fouls before a single point gets taken. You cannot convince me that Kevin Holland was anywhere near 100% in the second and third rounds of his fight with Mike Malott. Was Mike Malott punished in anyway for his two low blows? No and that’s a major problem.
And that was just a fight between two guys fighting for a spot in the rankings. Think back to Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie. GDR hit Holm after the bell in multiple rounds and rocked Holm. No points were taken and GDR won the UFC featherweight title in over Holly Holm. At the bare minimum, that fight should have been a draw.
The rules need to change or we will continue to have this discussion and we could risk more big UFC events marred by controversy moving forward.
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