Even though the Unified Rules of MMA are printed in black and white, confusing situations present themselves from time to time.
On Tuesday evening at Dana White’s Contender Series 37, Joanderson Brito committed an eye poke in the third round that rendered his opponent, Diego Lopes, unable to continue. However, when it was all said and done, Brito was declared the winner of the contest via technical decision.
Brito was warned on more than one occasion by referee Chris Tognoni throughout the fight to stop poking his opponent and to keep his fingers straight up or his fist closed completely. A point was taken from Brito after Lopes was determined to be unable to continue in the third round, but why was a point taken after the fight was already called off? More importantly, why was Brito declared victorious after essentially fouling his way to a win?
This is where the rules of the technical decision come into play. If a fight enters the third round or later and is stopped by an unintentional foul, the incomplete round will be scored as if it were completed, and the fight will go to the scorecards. If the referee decides to take a point, they may do so before the scores are tallied.
The keyword here is “unintentional” because if the foul was deemed intentional, the result would be a disqualification. Also, if the situation occurred before the completion of the second round, the fight would be declared a no-contest for an unintentional foul.
This is the exact process that played out on Tuesday. Tognoni decided the foul was unintentional, and despite the point deduction, Brito earned the judges’ favor and therefore won the bout with unanimous scores of 29-28.
The other area of frequent confusion that occurred during this ordeal was the rule around recovery time for a fouled fighter.
The Unified Rules of MMA read as follows: “A fighter who has been struck with a low blow is allowed up to five minutes to recover from the
foul as long as in the ringside doctor’s opinion the fighter may possibly continue on in the contest.”
For fouls other than low blows, the rule reads: “For a foul other than a low blow, the fouled fighter is not guaranteed 5 minutes of recovery time. If deemed not fit to continue by the referee or ringside physician, the referee must immediately call a halt to the bout. If the fighter is deemed not fit to continue by the referee or ringside physician but some of the five-minute foul time is still remaining, the fighter cannot avail himself of the remaining time.”
The UFC broadcast puts a clock on the screen for any foul that occurs. This can create some confusion even if the viewer may be aware of, but not completely understand, the five-minute rule and how it applies to different fouls.
In this case, the on-screen clock reached 2:09 before being taken off the screen, and the referee called a stop to the contest about 20 seconds later. This was the correct process based on the rules. Tognoni, in conjunction with the ringside physician, decided Lopes could not continue within five minutes, which is the allotted time they have to make a determination.
While everything in this fight was handled by the book, it still doesn’t alleviate the bitter taste of a fighter fouling his opponent until he is unable to continue and still walking away with his hand raised in victory. Again, this would have not occurred if Tognoni determined the final eye poke to be intentional. If he did, a situation similar to that of Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling would have unfolded, where the fouled fighter was declared the winner by disqualification for being on the receiving end of an intentional illegal strike.
MMA rules are always a hot topic of discussion when arguing for or against certain techniques such as 12-6 elbows or soccer kicks. Perhaps a closer examination of the situation that unfolded on Tuesday is in order.
Foul to win? Why Dana White’s Contender Series fighter won despite committing fight-ending eye poke
