Chris Weidman hasn’t had much luck in his home state of New York since the ban on MMA was lifted last year. At UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden he got knocked out by a flying knee from Yoel Romero, losing a potential title shot against Michael Bisping. And then in his latest fight last weekend at UFC 210 he took two borderline illegal knees to the head that resulted in his fight being stopped and another loss assigned to his record.
The whole situation was a big mess. Under new UFC rules, you need to have both palms or fists on the canvas to be considered a downed opponent that can’t be kneed or kicked in the head. But on Saturday night, Weidman put his fingertips to the mat as his opponent Gegard Mousasi hit him with knees. Referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the match and declared the knees illegal, but changed his mind after seeing a replay that showed Weidman’s hands lifting off the canvas with each impact.
With the blows suddenly legal, Weidman no longer got time to recover. The doctors asked him what the date was and he didn’t even get the month right, so they waved the fight off and declared it a TKO win for Gegard Mousasi. Now we’ve got footage from Weidman’s coaches Matt Sera and Ray Longo as the call was made, and they were not happy. Here’s a transcript of the video above, which we found on Reddit’s always entertaining /r/MMA sub.
Serra: If you’re okay, you’ve got to let them know! He never knows what day it is, though!
Longo: F**king bulls**t. Bull f**king s**t! No, no, no!
Serra: Because he didn’t know what day it is? He might not know what day it is! Give me his s**t. Where’s his shirt?
Longo: Goddamn it! He was winning that fight too.
Serra: He told them it was February and he didn’t know what the date was. I told you that motherf**ker’s a dirty cocks**ker!
Referee Dan Miragliotta: (to Weidman’s corner) They watched the replay, it was legal.
Serra: Was it legal?
Weidman: There’s no way that was legal!
Serra: Come on Dan, are you kidding Dan? How is that legal?
Longo: Motherf**ker!
Chris Weidman has already said he plans to appeal the decision, and he’s got a pretty good case considering New York doesn’t have instant replay and the referee’s original call should have stood. That being said, ruling the fight a DQ win for Weidman also seems wrong, so at this point we’re hoping this all gets resolved with a No Contest ruling and an immediate rematch.
