Jorge Masvidal defeated Jake Ellenberger via TKO in a controversial end to the bout Saturday night at UFC’s Ultimate Fighter Finale.
During the fight, Ellenburger appeared to get his foot caught in the cage and Masvidal swarmed him. Referee Herb Dean stopped the bout in what seemed to be a timeout, but he then called the fight off. Asked about the situation, Masvidal shrugged it off. “It is what it is,” he said. “You were going for a technique and it could have put me out of commission.”
Masvidal also never thought the fight was ever paused. “I’m about to kill you,” he said. “How are you just going to call a time out?”
He also expressed his admiration for Ellenberger and noted there was no bad blood between the two. “He’s always had my respect,” Masvidal said. “I’ve got to talk a little sh– to get in his head, but he’s a tough dude. It’s not that he doesn’t have heart, it’s just that when it comes to me I’m gonna eat him alive. I’ve got three times the heart he’s got or anybody in the division”.
Masvidal improves to 31-11.
Cervantes Analysis: That was such a weird ending to the fight. Masvidal was doing very well and likely would have won the fight regardless of the controversy, but it was handled oddly by Herb Dean and even I thought he was temporarily pausing the fight to see what happened. It’s possible that the decision is overturned due to the confusion, but it won’t take away from Masvidal’s overall performance.
Leave a Reply