THERE WAS A premature ending to the lightweight match-up between Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier at UFC 211 last night.
The pair, who have both suffered defeats to Conor McGregor in recent years, faced off in Dallas and the bout was looking like a contender for Fight of the Night when it was stopped in the second round.
Poirier was pinned against the cage with one hand on the canvas when Alvarez unloaded a couple of illegal knees to his opponent’s head. Referee Herb Dean judged that the former lightweight champion had committed an accidental foul and the fight was deemed ‘no contest’.
Alvarez apologised during Joe Rogan’s post-fight interview, but the crowd began to boo before Poirier jumped to his defence:
“Don’t boo this man,” Poirier said. “This man is a champion, he has fought all over the world and I’ve got nothing but respect for this guy.
“This guy’s a warrior. We both put it on the line every time we step in here. This is unfortunate and Eddie didn’t mean to do that but as he said, this is a fist fight.”
Speaking afterwards, however, UFC president Dana White was unhappy with the decision and hinted that the promotion could bring in replays to help referees.
“Any time that there’s an illegal blow or something like that to end a fight, it’s the worst,” said White.
“Even [former CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta text me tonight and said ‘there needs to be instant replay’. These judges and officials need to be able to look at instant replays and make calls.
“You’re talking about people’s lives, big fights and it sucks when these type of mistakes are made. There is no way that should have been a no contest.”
In the interview with Megan Olivi, White also spoke about the difficulties posed by the fact that some of the state commissions haven’t implemented the new MMA rules that were introduced last year.
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