The left hook of @LilHeathenMMA that was the beginning of the end! #UFCOrlando pic.twitter.com/2TzDOciIDM
— UFC (@ufc) February 25, 2018
The UFC’s return to Orlando on big FOX may have been lacking some star power, but to make up for that they did their best to design a main event that would guarantee a knock down drag out war ending with a knockout. In one corner: Jeremy Stephens, a 28-fight UFC veteran with the organization with 17 wins coming via KO. In the other: up and comer Josh Emmett, who was last seen stealing the soul of highly ranked Ricardo Lamas…
Coming up next …@JoshEmmettUFC #UFCOrlando pic.twitter.com/WbjSGv1ckK
— UFC (@ufc) February 25, 2018
Unfortunately for Emmett, Stephens just can’t be stopped. He ended up knocking out Emmett early into the second round, catching Emmett coming in sloppy and dropping him to the mat where a nearly illegal knee and a Hendo-style flying punch finished his opponent off. Replays showed the knee just missing the head of a clearly grounded Emmett, keeping the finish from turning into a pretty big injustice.
It's over!! @LiLHeathenMMA with the HUGE knockout at #UFCOrlando!! pic.twitter.com/oyDw8olNeH
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) February 25, 2018
Jeremy Stephens gets his monumental win with a HUGE LEFT HOOK KO on Josh Emmett! #UFCOrlando https://t.co/UDMO8X5M9b
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) February 25, 2018
But some on Twitter pointed out that from different angles than the UFC showed multiple times, the knee looked like it connected:
https://twitter.com/ZPGIFs/status/967599259360088064
I keep watching it and in my book it's an illegal knee. pic.twitter.com/czniXVOKDn
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) February 25, 2018
The illegal elbows are way worse than the knee that arguably didn't land.
— Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander) February 25, 2018
Others disagreed.
https://twitter.com/JawJitsu/status/967603217759719424
Afterwards, Jeremy called out on the mic for a title shot, arguing that his 11 years with the company earned him preference over the three guys ahead of him in the rankings. We’ll have to see if the controversy surrounding this finish affect the hype push Stephens gets following another big KO win.
