Ray Longo is none too pleased with the outcome that transpired following Chris Weidman’s UFC 210 bout with Gegard Mousasi.
Weidman took on Mousasi this past Saturday night (April 8) in the co-main event of UFC 210 in Buffalo, NY. The “All-American” was looking to avoid his third straight loss and get closer to a shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight title he once held. For Mousasi, it was a chance to extend his winning streak to five.
In the second round, Mousasi kneed Weidman in the head and referee Dan Miragliotta called for time. Miragliotta deemed the knee illegal as he thought both of Weidman’s hands were on the mat. Upon replays, it looked as if Weidman’s hands were lifted off the canvas just before Mousasi’s knee landed.
Miragliotta then deemed the knees legal despite the fact that the state of New York doesn’t use replays for mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. “The Dreamcatcher” was then awarded a TKO win.
Longo, who is Weidman’s long-time coach, expressed his frustration over the result on the Anik and Florian podcast. He isn’t happy that the initial call of the knee was changed (via MMAFighting.com):
“Stick to your f*cking decision. I want to know who the hell convinced him to change his mind. Take it step by step. Stick to your call and that’s it. Whether the knee was legal or illegal is really irrelevant. Because the other thing that I think people are missing is he didn’t go down when he got kneed. He would have kept fighting. … This is what nobody gets. He’s already in a different mindset now. You’re f*cking with a guy in the middle of the fight. Now you tell a guy there’s an illegal knee, you encourage a guy to take a break, you’re changing the guy’s mindset.”
