- An amateur fight that ended in a bizarre KO has been deemed “fake and scripted”
- The referee in charge was commended for showing his integrity
What was supposedly a typical amateur MMA event that took place in Manila on Sunday took a wild and unexpected turn after two fighters battling each other evidently pulled off a scripted bout.
The referee in charge was well aware that the pair faked the entire thing and did not buy any of it.
Totally absurd
The fight started out as a normal fight as both fighters appeared to be gauging each other upon hearing the opening bell. One fighter pulled off a spinning back fist or elbow that never landed on his opponent’s head or chin. Things took a bizarre twist when the other fighter suddenly got knocked out, face-first.
The replays and slow-mos showed that whatever the spinning attack was did not hit the other fighter which made it clear that it was indeed a scripted KO.
King of the Fight, the Philippine-based amateur MMA organization that hosted the event swiftly issued a statement condemning the disgraceful act of the two fighters and everyone else involved in it.
“We DO NOT condone “fake” and “scripted” fights just to hype a fighter, create clout to benefit another competition. We respect and recognize the purity of the sport, the athletes hardship and skill. We don’t “fake” fights for social media likes and clout. This match was embarrassing not just to the athletes that trained hard for their fights and the organisation who organized the event, but to the sport of MMA in general, this is NOT pro-wrestling, Kudos to the referee coach jerry legaspi for quickly recognizing the situation and saving the match from further embarrassment.
Lets keep our beloved MMA sport in its pure and unscripted beauty,” the statement read.
We DO NOT condone "fake" and "scripted" fights just to hype a fighter, create clout to benefit another competition. We…
Posted by King of the Fight on Sunday, June 19, 2022
The referee was not having it
As mentioned in the statement, referee in charge of the fight, Jerry Legaspi commended by the organizers for doing the right thing. In the video, it could be seen that Legaspi knew outright that the KO was fake and repeatedly asked the downed fighter to get up and continue the fight.
Former ONE Championship champion and Filipino MMA legend Eduard Folayang also acknowledged Legaspi’s integrity.
Stating the obvious, the possible reason behind this was sports gambling but it was a bit of a shock as reports say scripted fights are rampant only within Muay Thai fighters in Thailand. Whatever the truth is, let’s just hope this won’t happen again in our beloved sport.
