THURSDAY NEWS DIGEST 11/17: Roy Nelson suspension issued for kicking at ref, Lyota Machida suspension issued for violation (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)

By Michael Hiscoe, MMATorch contributor

Roy Nelson
Roy Nelson (photo credit Joshua Dahl © USA Today Sports)

NELSON SUSPENDED FOR SHOVING MCCARTHY

Roy Nelson will have to pay for his boot to the rump of referee John McCarthy back in September after all.

MMAFighting reports that Nelson has been suspended nine-months and fined $24,000 by the Brazilian Superior Justice Court of MMA (STJDMMA) for the incident at a UFC Fight Night event in Brasilia, Brazil. After his TKO win over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Nelson walked back towards McCarthy, who was tending to Silva, and gave him a push with his foot, a move Nelson explained was out of frustration at McCarthy for taking too long to stop the fight. Earlier that week, Nelson had also expressed frustration with McCarthy for a restart in his July loss to Derrick Lewis.

Nelson does have the opportunity to have his punishment shortened though. If Nelson apologizes to McCarthy inside the Octagon or at a press-conference, the suspension could be reduced to six-months and the fine to $13,700.
However long the suspension lasts, it will be retroactive to the date of the complaint which was Sept. 29, 2016 making him eligible to fight again after either March 29 or June 29, 2017.

Hiscoe’s Analysis: This seems like a fair suspension as professional fighters putting their hands (or feet) on officials needs to be taken seriously. Nelson wasn’t trying to hurt McCarthy, but he also did it while he was trying to tend to a fighter who just suffered a knockout and wasn’t even looking. The UFC typically does honor commission suspensions as do outside commissions, so don’t expect to see Nelson fight before the Brazilian suspension is up. A public apology in the cage at an event would make for a fun spectacle, but for some reason I don’t see that happening. It’s not as if there are any obvious big fights in the pipeline for Roy Nelson right now so I would expect him to just wait out the nine months and return next summer.

THURSDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…

-Lyoto Machida has officially been suspended by USADA for 18-months for voluntarily declaring the use of a product containing 7‐keto-dehydroepiandrosterone. The suspension will be retroactive to April 8, 2016 making Machida eligible to fight again after October 8, 2017. He will be 39 years old.

-Eddie Alvarez’s striking coach, Mark Henry, told R.J. Clifford on the Luke Thomas Radio Show that, after seeing him up close, he feels Conor McGregor could beat Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match.

-Philipe Lins now faces Kleber Silva at Bellator 168 from Florence, Italy on Dec. 10 (SOURCE).

-There is an Invicta FC card tomorrow headlined by Tonya Evinger vs. Yana Kunitskaya for the Bantamweight Championship and a Strawweight Championship tilt between Angela Hill and Kaline Medeiros. The show takes place at 8 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Gegard Mousasi vs. Thiago Santos from UFC 200.

NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: WEDNESDAY NEWS DIGEST 11/16: Did UFC keep Nate Diaz out of UFC 205? Diaz thinks it might’ve been in McGregor’s contract (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)


(MMATorch’s Daily News Digest features the top story of the day with added analysis, plus smaller tidbits in the News Notes section. Mike Hiscoe, who writes the News Digest Sundays through Thursdays, has a background in film criticism and previously wrote for the DVD Town and Movie Metropolis websites. His passion for Mixed Martial Arts goes back to 2005, but it was in the promotion for UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie that he really got hooked.”This is my house, I build it,” is still among the all-time great UFC promos. You can follow Mike on social media under the tag @mikehiscoe. He now provides his experienced writing and perspective on live MMA events for MMATorch.)

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