Josh Emmett suffered a second round knockout loss to Jeremy Stephens in the main event of UFC On Fox 28.
The loss was without controversy though, because instant replay showed that Stephens landed illegal elbow and knee strikes in the finishing sequence of the encounter.
However, since the Florida State Boxing Commission (FSBC) doesn’t allow instant replay, referee Dan Miragliotta was unable to check to see if anything illegal went down. Instant replay has recently become available in many states holding MMA events, but it is unknown just when the state of Florida could add instant replay to future MMA events to happen there.
MMA Fighting is now reporting that Emmett’s team notified them that they plan of filing an appeal to the FSBC, hoping to overturn the loss to a no contest. It is unlikely that the result of the fight would be overturned to a disqualification loss, since there were no illegal strike fouls or warnings issued by the referee before the end of the encounter.
What the commission is going to have to review is whether or not the strikes were illegal and whether or not they played a role in the outcome of the fight.
There is no date set yet for the next FSBC meeting, so it could be some time before the appeal is accepted or rejected.
