Controversy At The Ultimate Fighter Finale

The Ultimate Fighting Championship created one of the most lucrative recruiting layouts ever by creating The Ultimate Fighter, a reality show run on cable TV featuring a tournament layout that offers a large final prize. With the exception of 1 season, that contract has entailed a six figure contract with the UFC and other prizes that can take a fighter's career to the next level.

Yesterday night, June 23, the UFC held the finale for the fifth season of the Ultimate Fighter, a season that, unlike previous seasons, had all of the fighters competing in the same weight class. The UFC took the opportunity to feature their new, blooming 155 pound lightweight class, making the show an opportunity to showcase two of the greatest fighters in history at 155 pounds as the coaches.

BJ Penn and Jens Pulver coached the series and became the first coaches from a TUF season ever to fight each other on the finale. Penn was victorious in their fight, winning by submission due to a rear naked choke in the second round and Nate Diaz won the tournament after accidentally dislocating opponent Manny Gamburyan's shoulder while stuffing a takedown, however, that's not what I'm writing about.

Something happened on The Ultimate Fighter finale that I have never seen before. I've been a fan of the sport for a while, and so it's always exciting when I see something new. However, last night I was a little bit appauled and, frankly, a little bit pissed off.

The fight I'm talking about was between two fighters from the show who fought on Team Penn, Robert Emerson and Gray Maynard.

I'm not going to lie, I thought Maynard was a heavy favorite in this fight, and he clearly dominated the early going of the fight, in my opinion. He controlled position and he controlled the pace of the fight. He took Emerson down when he wanted to and didn't get beaten standing up, where many, myself included, figured Emerson would be better off.

The first round was exciting and, technically, fun to watch, but the trouble started in the second round.

Maynard went in to take Emerson down and scooped out both of Emerson's legs into a double leg takedown, the standard wrestling attack in mixed-martial arts. He proceeded to lift Emerson above his hands and, as strong fighters (especially wresters) often do, he slammed Emerson down to the mat.

Emerson suffered a rib injury and he grimaced in pain and tapped out.

At first, I jumped off of my couch. I had never seen a fighter tap out after being slammed. It was also one of the most impressive slams I had ever seen from a 155 pound fighter.

I watched Maynard roll back onto the canvas, his arms outstretched, staring at the roof of the Pearl and the Palms.

I thought all was well and good, until Joe Rogan, one of the color commentators for the UFC began to talk about Maynard being KO'd by the slam.

Referee Steve Mazzagatti concluded that the fight was a No Contest, that Maynard was unable to continue the fight after the slam and, as a result, Emerson could not have lost the fight.

Now, I want to get this clear, I like Joe Rogan. He's a good commentator and he does a good job at giving MMA fans insight into the sport from a fighter's perspective. I hope he has a good long career as an MMA commentator, but he slipped up.

I also like Steve Mazzagatti, he is one of two of the referees who slips up very rarely (the other being the legend and UFC icon, referee Big John McCarthy). He also slipped up.

Maynard did suffer a flash knock out after slamming Emerson to the mat, that is not a doubt in my mind. I saw his head hit the canvas and one of the angles that was presented. I also so his leg's stiffen up in the moments before Emerson tapping, perhaps even up through the tap.

Where I disagree with the call is in the moments after. When Maynard rolls off of Emerson his eyes are staring up, not back into his head as Rogan said they were, which indicates consciousness. He also stood up and went back to his corner after being pulled up by his corner men.

Maynard looked winded heading back to his corner, but not dazed. He wasn't slurring words during the post-fight interview and he was actively celebrating with his corner before the official decision was announced. Maynard was conscious.

I understand that Mazzagatti believes that neither fighter was able to continue, but I disagree with that judgment call. Maynard recovered quickly from his flash KO, and there have been fighters throughout the history of the sport that have recovered from flash KO's and gone on to win fights using their groundgame once knocked down by the strike that put them out for a second.

Case and point: Pete Sell v Scott Smith at the last TUF finale. Pete Sell landed a body shot to Smith that sent Smith the canvas, but as Sell moved in, Smith landed a big right hand that put Sell to sleep. Neither fighter would have been able to continue, but because of the difference in condition between Sell and Smith, with Sell being unconscious and Smith simply being injured beyond being able to resonably continue.

Why did Scott Smith bring how the win while Gray Maynard was left with a No Contest?

It's a rhetorical question. I don't want it so sound like I'm questioning the Smith v Sell understanding. That was a great fight and I feel that the right call was to give the W to the fighter who did the most damage. That was Scott Smith.

However, I feel like a flash KO is not grounds to stop a fight. A fighter has to show that he cannot defend himself.

Maynard didn't display an inability to defend himself. After all, Emerson wasn't attacking him. Emerson was giving up.

Emerson's condition was worse that Maynards simply because he couldn't recover from it in the moments following sustaining it, the way that Maynard got up from the canvas and hugged his corner men. Emerson sustained more damage, Maynard suffered a smack in the face and, though he went to sleep for a second, he could have finished the fight after regaining composure had Emerson not tapped out right then.

That's just how I see it.