UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Manager-coach Tyson Chartier won’t give up in his fight to overturn Mike Rodriguez’s controversial loss to Ed Herman.
Rodriguez (11-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) was on the wrong end of an error from referee Chris Tognoni in the light heavyweight bout at UFC on ESPN+ 35 in September, which Herman won by third-round submission.
In the second round, Rodriguez dropped Herman with a knee to the midsection, but the referee misidentified it as a low blow. Herman was given the usual five-minute recovery window for a groin strike, but the replay showed the shot clearly missed his groin.
Tognoni declined to consult a replay, and the fight was allowed to resume after the controversial incident. Herman went on to rally in the third round, submitting Rodriguez with a Kimura.
The Unified Rules of MMA state that replays can only be used in fight-ending sequences, but the Nevada regulations state that a replay can be used “any time” during a fight and that the referee can call a timeout to view replay footage or consult with officials of the commission.
Chartier recently revealed to MMA Junkie the NAC shot down his initial appeal request. However, he’s continued pushing to get an actual hearing – and is optimistic getting added to the NAC’s monthly agenda will shed a different, more fair and less political light on the issue.
“So they did exactly what we thought they’d do: They hid behind the whole ‘the referee is the sole arbiter of the fight, he didn’t choose to use replay, that’s on him, there’s nothing we can do,’ so we pushed back,” Chartier said. “I couldn’t take no for an answer for this. I think commissions, in general, they have no accountability, not a lot of oversight, and they can hide behind different rules because other ones write them, and ultimately we’re appealing to them anyway.
“But I think we just gotta keep pushing and be heard at a hearing and let our voices be heard and explain that, listen, there are better ways to handle this stuff. Like, if someone who’s never watched a fight can come into that room and watch the Mike Rodriguez incident, they’d be like, ‘That’s wrong.’ Let’s just apply common sense. This isn’t politics. No one’s trying to screw anybody over. Let’s just apply common sense so what happened to Mike is wrong, he should never have to look at that as an L on his record.”
Even UFC president Dana White was outraged at Tognoni’s error, giving Rodriguez his win bonus. Though Rodriguez has moved on and is already scheduled for his next bout against Danilo Marques on Feb. 6, Chartier isn’t going to let it go until he gets justice for his fighter.
“Fortunately the commission has been shaken enough where they changed the replay rule even though no rule has changed, they’re just applying it differently. So I think worst-case scenario, Mike should have a no contest on there and just move forward on that, but we’re just gonna keep pushing,” Chartier said.
“Hopefully we can be heard at a hearing and let it be known that set the precedence for the fact that when a fighter is totally wronged and common sense isn’t used, that we have an avenue to go down where the commission can say, ‘Yeah, you’re right. A mistake was made, and we’re gonna overturn it and do the right thing.’”
NAC rejects Mike Rodriguez’s appeal of UFC loss, but Tyson Chartier still pushes for hearing