The fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira at UFC 281 became controversial recently due to Marc Goddard’s amateur decision in the fifth round. The decision cost Adesanya his UFC middleweight title, and vice versa for Pereira.Veteran Matt Brown afterwards voiced his disagreement about the incident in the media.
The Nigerian-New Zealander professional MMA fighter recently lost his middleweight title to rival Pereira via technical knockout. The controversial fight later sparked interest all over the world. Despite the fact that the decision of the fight was directly opposed by the MMA universe.
The former middleweight champion was dominating majority of the fight and needed to carry his momentum till the final bell to retain his title, but the Brazilian MMA fighter hurt him with a flurry of punches, prompting referee Marc Goddard to stop the fight with three minutes remaining and declare it a technical knockout.
Petition to bring back #stevemazagatti #nowhookemupcmon #ifhedieshedies #hestillbreathing pic.twitter.com/Xp3I2ExK0O
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) November 14, 2022
I LOVE THIS GAME!!!
Attacking Titans like this one thrills me!!
Another chapter to “Poatan” 🗿. You won the battle yet again, but the war wages on! The hunter now becomes the hunted, the game’s not over 👾 #Law15 #insetcoin #playagain #nowondertheymadesomanysawmovies 🧩 pic.twitter.com/Bi3vTPL5jZ— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) November 13, 2022
Goddard’s hasty decision has created quite a commotion in the MMA world. Afterward, a UFC veteran expressed his dissatisfaction with the following decision. Later, on a podcast, he expressed the same sentiment as The Last Stylebender, said after the match that,
“My ego would say at least let me go out on my shield. But I don’t think I could’ve gone out ‘cause I was still there. I’ve seen worse stoppages. F—ng bring back Steve Mazzagatti,” Adesanya said during the post-fight media scrum early Sunday morning. Bring back Steve Mazzagatti, I would’ve been fine. He might’ve won that round, but I’d still be champion.”
The 33-year-old was prepared to fight his way back into the game, but the referee’s mistaken decision cost him the middleweight title. However, the UFC is offering Israel Adesanya a rematch against the current middleweight champion, something that the newly-crowned champion is also open to. He later stated that he doesn’t care who he fights because he will defend his title regardless.
