This past Saturday night at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale a number of fights came into question in terms of officiating, but the one that still has people talking is the finish in the Travis Browne vs. Gabriel Gonzaga fight.
Kenny Florian tweets Big John McCarthy to find out his thoughts on elbows in Browne vs. Gonzaga fight
It took just over one-minute for “Hapa” to finish the fight. Gonzaga had the Hawaiian pinned up against the cage, when Browne started raining down elbows to finish the fight. Many believed the elbows were illegal and to the back of the head.
On Monday morning, former UFC lightweight and now commentator Kenny Florian sent out a tweet to referee Big John McCarthy to get his thoughts on the elbow.
@kennyflorian Hi Kenny, good job last night.They were legal up 2the last 1 or possibly 2 but he was already out,legal blows put him out
— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) April 15, 2013
A follow up tweet stated that they were VERY dangerous as they were to the back of the head. McCarthy followed up by saying, “the back of the head is not bad it is the back of the neck where the spine & skull connect that is Dangerous.”
After looking back on the fight at hand, Browne landed a couple of clean shots to the side of the head which dropped Gonzaga and it was the final one or two that were questionable. Florian asked McCarthy to explain the 12-6 elbow rule in MMA, which seems to confuse a lot of MMA fans.
Also @johnmccarthymma can u please explain the 12-6 elbow rule for all the Mma fans that are confused?
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) April 14, 2013
@kennyflorian The only illegal elbow strike is a linear elbow thrown with the hand traveling from the sky straight down with no arc.
— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) April 15, 2013
@kennyflorian Any arc makes the elbow legal so the way Travis threw those elbows was legal
— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) April 15, 2013
After all is said and done the call was made and “Hapa” won the fight. It sounds as if Gonzaga’s camp will be filing a complaint to have the ruling in the fight overturned. According to Jason Genet from Ingrained Media the results can not be overturned and the best case scenario will be to file for a rematch.
“There is no rule for the overturn: There has to be collusion to cheat or a mistake on the scorecards that can be proven (see Camozzi vs Villasenor) or drugs. Since this happened while the fight was in motion the commission will support the decision made by the referee. Gonzaga’s people need to petition Zuffa for a rematch not the NSAC to overturn.
NAC 467.770 Change of decision after contest or exhibition: Factors considered by Commission. (NRS 467.030) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 6 of NAC 467.850, the Commission will not change a decision rendered at the end of any contest or exhibition unless:
1. The Commission determines that there was collusion affecting the result of the contest or exhibition;
2. The compilation of the scorecards of the judges discloses an error which shows that the decision was given to the wrong unarmed combatant; or
3. As the result of an error in interpreting a provision of this chapter, the referee has rendered an incorrect decision.
[Athletic Comm’n, § 40, eff. 4-25-78]–(NAC A 12-13-82; 12-2-97; R090-07, 12-4-2007)”
We will have to wait and see what happens, but my guess is not a heck of a lot.
Thanks to Zombie Prophet for the .gif.
(Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting)
