The California State Athletic Commission voted a unanimous 6-0 to deny Josh Thomson his appeal to change the result of his bout against Patricky Freire at Bellator 172 from a knockout loss to a technical draw.
Thomson claims that an accidental headbutt between himself and Freire is what lead to the finish of the fight, which was stated in a letter from Thomson to the CSAC.
“One issue in question is whether the foul changed the momentum of the fight that resulted in my KO,” Thomson wrote. “The other issue in question is, should my fight be ruled a technical draw as the injury I sustained by foul allowed my opponent to win by contributing to the injury I sustained when fouled.”
Freire, who was victorious in the fight, also wrote a letter to the CSAC and claimed that the headbutt was his opponent's fault anyway.
“If anything, I was the one fouled,” Freire wrote. “He projected his head at mine, albeit unintentionally, while rushing inside to hit me with his punches and ended up clashing with me while I was lowering and distancing myself from him.”
Referee John McCarthy, who officiated the main event, also penned a letter to the CSAC and questioned just how hurt Thomson was from the headbutt.
“The real question here is how hurt was Josh Thompson due to the unintentional clash of heads,” McCarthy wrote. “This type of activity happens frequently in MMA, but many times the fighters just continue with the action of the fight. Only Josh knows how much the clash affected him.”
What lead to the ruling against Thomson from the CSAC was the characterization of the events from Thomson, because it lead to the CSAC being under the impression that the fighter was of sound mind after the headbutt.
While Thomson doesn’t have his next fight scheduled at the moment, the victorious Freire headlines Bellator 181 against Derek Campos.
