Israel Adesanya still believes the stoppage loss to Alex Pereira this weekend at UFC 281 was premature.
Marc Goddard stopped the fight via TKO in the last round. This halted Adesanya from breaking Anderson Silva’s legendary middleweight win streak record.
Round five, Madison Square Garden, Israel Adesanya is 3 minutes away from winning a probable decision. Suddenly, the now ex-champion is struck with punches against the cage. Adesanya falls to his feet, and Goddard stops the fight as he rises, unable to defend himself anymore intelligently.
Adesanya made it no secret that he disagreed with the decision. As the fight was stopped, he pulled a disapproving face at Goddard, throwing his hands in the air in the complaint. Goddard still stands by his decision, as said on his Twitter: “Protection is paramount.”
Mark Goddard Protests His Innocence in Israel Adesanya Stoppage
“When I get up, I’m fine”, Adesanya told Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour”. Adesanya largely attributes his TKO loss to the peroneal nerve damage in his leg, caused by the leg kick from Pereira. Adesanya dropped to the canvas shortly before the fight was stopped from the leg kick, a common injury in his eyes” “it happened to Michael Chandler, Cejudo, our boy Jimmy Crute, it happened to him as well.”
“I went lateral, lateral, and I tripped and looked bad, so I think the referee was like, ‘Two big shots, and he wobbles.’”
Adesanya claims he can perfectly remember the end of the fight and the entirety of it and says it was just part of his strategy. He stated that he could see all he needed to see, and looking down was just to tire out Pereira.
“Stand there, don’t move anymore. Let him gas out” were his thoughts.
Israel Adesanya said that he was disappointed that Marc Goddard did not let him go on longer, especially after officiating the 5-round war between him and Kelvin Gastelum. However, the former champion says there are no hard feelings.
“You should have that kind of faith in me.”
Ultimately whether you think that the stoppage was a lack of faith or just good refereeing, it would be difficult to disagree that if Adesanya and Pereira face each other again, Adesanya will feel he has something to prove.
Do you think the stoppage was premature?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
