Melissa Martinez’s victory over Alice Ardelean at UFC Combat Evening has been considerably overshadowed by a extremely controversial refereeing determination.
Final evening’s contest was the strawweight’s second outing with MMA’s flagship promotion following her debut towards Elise Reed at UFC 279, which she misplaced through a unanimous determination.
Nonetheless, the 27-year-old has proven loads of potential in her eight MMA wins, cultivating her formidable status as an elite kickboxer.
And but, regardless of securing a unanimous determination victory over Alice Ardelean, the Mexican was finally denied a much more emphatic finish to the bout.
Dominick Cruz slams referee Keith Peterson
After seemingly wanting set to say a complete determination on factors, Melissa Martinez landed a sneaky physique kick to drop her opponent within the third spherical.
However then, as an alternative of permitting Martinez to go in for the end, referee Keith Peterson referred to as the shot low, gifting Alice Ardelean loads of time to recuperate.
Certain sufficient, the combatant utilized her window of respite to nice impact, however finally succumbed to the total power of her extremely expert opponent.
The Las Vegas commentary staff all agreed that Martinez had been robbed of a TKO, with two-time UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz being quickest to pounce on the refereeing mistake.
Cruz has, in fact, expressed his frustration with Peterson up to now, however it seems that most individuals have been in settlement with the 39-year-old this time round.
😬 Controversy at #UFCVegas99 in strawweight motion! 🇲🇽 Melissa Martinez landed a brutal physique shot in spherical 3 that visibly damage Alice Ardelean, however the referee dominated it a low blow and gave Ardelean time to recuperate. The commentary staff disagreed, saying Martinez could have been… pic.twitter.com/H56nb3uE4p
— Ladies’s MMA Rankings (@WMMARankings) October 19, 2024
Followers blast referee Keith Peterson in Melissa Martinez vs Alice Ardelean conflict
Within the wake of Martinez’s first UFC win, MMA followers have taken to social media, largely in a bid to voice their ideas on Peterson’s refereeing show.
On X, one fan mentioned: “Completely executed kick, poor ruling by ref. Must be overturned to a TKO unquestionably!”
Completely executed kick, poor ruling by ref. Must be overturned to a TKO unquestionably!
— Tomas Roos (@northern_mma) October 20, 2024
One other fan added: “Apparent authorized kick.”
In the meantime, one other fan has opined that Ardelean was within the flawed, suggesting that she faked the general affect from her opponent’s kick.
They mentioned: “Level deduction for pretending needs to be added to rule ebook.”
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