Chalk this one up as one of the UFC's all-time weird situations.
During the UFC Atlantic City prelim fights Saturday night, Ricky Simon took on Merab Dvalishvili. During the bout Dvalishvili challenged Simon with a torrid pace, controlling the majority of the fight with several takedowns and strikes. Late in the third round, Simon grabbed a mounted guillotine and looked to have Dvalishvili in trouble. Dvalishvili kicked his legs outwards for the duration of the fight, apparently surviving.
Not so fast, says the New Jersey Athletic Commission. After the fight, the bout was ruled a TKO in favor of Simon, even though the fight was never actually stopped while it was going on.
Take a look at an excerpt from our UFC Atlantic City live coverage below.
Round Three: The round begins with Dvalishvili kicking Simon in the midsection, Dvalishvili accidentally nails Simon low and the fight is halted. The fight resumes with Dvalishvili swinging away at Simon, Dvalishvili scores a takedown and Simon gets right back up. Simon then nails Dvalishvili with a left hook to the midsection, Dvalishvili cracks a swinging Simon with a counter right. Simon scores a takedown on Dvalishvili and he gets the half guard, Dvalishvili scrambles to get the fight standing again. Dvalishvili backs Simon into the cage wall while swinging wildly at him, Dvalishvili goes for a takedown and Simon catches him in a guillotine choke and the referee says Dvalishvili was out as the round ends.
Official Result: Ricky Simon def. Merab Dvalishvili by TKO via referee decision (5:00, R3)
Even UFC's own Twitter was a little baffled by the call.
After the fight, Merab Dvalishvili spoke out about the call. It's worth noting that had the fight went to the scorecards, he would have won via split decision.
"He took me down and I couldn't move. I just waited because there was only a short amount of time left. When it was finished, I was just tired and stayed down. I knew I had won. The doctors told me to stay down. I don't know why they gave it to him. I feel like I'm the winner. I didn't lose this fight. I just want more fights. I want to stay busy," Dvalishvili said.
You can see Fightful.com's full, live coverage of UFC Fight Night Atlantic City at this link, and our post-show wrap up podcast at this link. You can see how UFC fighters reacted to the decision at this link.
