Maybe one of the biggest controversies was seen at the UFC On Fox 28 in Orlando, where Jeremy Stephens scored a controversial knockout victory against Josh Emmett.
It was more than obvious that Stephens placed a knee on the downed opponent’s head, and the rules were broken. But the referee didn’t even abduct the point! If we add two dirty elbows to the back of the head on the ground, Josh Emmett has many reasons to be angry. And Jeremy Stephens is not known as a dirty fighter.
Josh Emmett appeared on “The MMAHour” to discuss the controversy:
“I’m not saying he’s a dirty fighter at all. But after watching it, I just wish I had more of a fair chance, you know? I wish Dan would have done his job. If he would have stopped the fight, I could’ve had a little time to recover or maybe took a point away from Stephens it could’ve been a completely different outcome. He is saying he didn’t see it. I watched the clip, Urijah (Faber) sent me a picture and it shows the knee connecting on my head and you can see Dan looking right at it. I just don’t get the whole, how he couldn’t see it. This has happened in the past, with UFC 210 with Weidman and Mousasi. That was a legal blow and he stopped the fight, but then this was an illegal blow and he didn’t stop it. I just wish I had a fair chance and it could’ve been a different outcome.”
Josh Emmett believes two elbows on the ground were definitively illegal. Josh Emmett suffers broken orbital bone, and his team, Alpha Male, plans to appeal the decision. Josh hopes he will get a rematch with Jeremy Stephens sooner or later.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Stephens accepting the rematch with Josh Emmett to get rid of the dark cloud which throws a shadow over his tremendous victory. If Stephens denies the rematch, who knows, maybe the appeal will open up the crack in the wall. For now, everything is possible.
