Jiri Prochazka had no complaints in regards to the stoppage in his UFC 295 loss to Alex Pereira, however he may be the one fighter who didn’t get upset about the best way the combat ended.
The ending sequence started with Pereira blasting Prochazka with a punch that dropped him to his knees, after which the previous gentle heavyweight champion went for a takedown. Pereira then unloaded a barrage of elbows, inflicting Prochazka to go limp momentarily earlier than the fighters fell to the canvas.
A break up second later, referee Marc Goddard rushed in to cease the combat, nevertheless Prochazka sprung again to his ft instantly. Afterward, Prochazka mentioned Goddard “was proper” along with his name and mentioned that he accepted the loss.
Whereas UFC welterweight Matt Brown appreciates Prochazka’s assertion and sentiment, he says the fact is Goddard pulled the set off a bit of too early and Prochazka is simply taking the excessive highway along with his response.
“It was undoubtedly early,” Brown mentioned on The Fighter vs. The Author. “I don’t assume there’s any query about that, particularly at this stage and particularly on the championship stage. Not that there needs to be a distinction, however there needs to be a distinction between novice after which professional. At that stage, it was definitely early.
“Personally, I believe that’s Jiri’s humility popping out of him. I believe if it was the worst stoppage on this planet, you wouldn’t see him complain. He would possibly say one thing about it, however I don’t assume he’d complain about it. He’s simply that sort of man. He’s acquired the samurai spirit deep operating in his blood. I don’t assume you’re going to listen to from him any actual complaints and I’ve numerous respect for him for carrying himself that approach. However the ref, you’ve simply acquired to let it go.”
Brown has typically argued for referees to permit the fighters each alternative to flee a foul place reasonably than stopping a combat when there’s nonetheless an opportunity for a comeback.
That being mentioned, Brown acknowledges that Goddard and different referees have an impossibly robust job so he sympathizes with the choices they’re compelled to make, however he can solely communicate from a fighter’s perspective. On this case, he needs Prochazka was given extra time to both combat again or permit Pereira the possibility to stamp his victory with a definitive ending.
“That is what we do for a residing … give the man an opportunity,” Brown mentioned. “We’ve seen some insane comebacks. To be honest to the referees, it is rather subjective. You’ve acquired a break up second to decide. So it’s sort of onerous to match one combat to a different. There’s sure issues that they’re searching for they usually’ve acquired a break up second to vary a fighter’s total profession proper there. It’s a very troublesome state of affairs that they’re in, nevertheless it was early.
“I don’t assume [Prochazka] would have gotten out both, by the best way,” Brown added. “I believe Alex would have completed and Jiri in all probability would have taken extra punishment. I do assume that might have occurred, however I’d reasonably see him take that punishment and exit correctly on his sword or his defend.”
With regards to officiating, Brown commends Goddard for being a top-notch referee, one who is commonly counted on to function the third man in the course of a few of the greatest fights in fight sports activities. However that religion in Goddard as a referee nonetheless doesn’t exclude him from sometimes making errors.
“Marc Goddard isn’t identified for doing that so I do have sympathy for the referees and the place that they’re in,” Brown mentioned. “It’s a troublesome state of affairs, particularly after I’m positive that the refs study concussions and mind well being and issues like that, and that makes it sophisticated when you recognize this might have an effect on the man for the remainder of his life negatively, but in addition in the event you cease it too quickly.
“I at all times return to the Neil Magny–Hector Lombard combat. You may have stopped that six or seven or eight instances, like so many instances. Neil goes on and wins as a result of the ref was letting them combat. Simply an incredible victory by Neil. He deserves all of the respect on this planet for that. However these conditions like that remind me that we by no means know what’s going to occur. We’ve seen it sufficient instances now the place guys come again from getting rocked and profitable, proper on the verge of getting knocked out or the combat being stopped they usually come again and win.”
As a lot as Brown believes the end result would have been the identical, with Pereira profitable by knockout, he nonetheless needs Prochazka had the chance to return again, however that was taken away from him with the early stoppage.
“Solely on this sport do one 1,000,000 photographs occur,” Brown mentioned. “That’s why we love the game.”
