Patricky Freire got the knockout win over Josh Thomson at Bellator 172, but now the result of that fight is being appealed by one fighter.
Thomson has filed an appeal with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) to get the fight result changed to a no contest due to an accidental headbutt just moments before the knockout finish.
Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy, who officiated the fight, spoke with MMA Junkie about what he saw in the cage that night.
“I see Patricky go after Josh, Josh gets knocked down, I see his hand go back to brace his fall, he gets himself back up, starts swinging, and gets hit with an uppercut, and it knocks him out,” McCarthy said. “And in that situation, I was not sure. Was Josh hurt by what seemed to be a clash of heads, or was that a punch? I went to one of my judges and said, ‘Did you see if that was a head-butt or a punch?’ And he said, ‘It was a punch.’ And he gave me the wrong information, because if you go back and watch, that first knockdown was a head-butt. So Josh is going to contest that fight based on, ‘I got hurt by a head-butt.'”
According to the CSAC rules, if an accidental blow (such as a headbutt) helps lead to the finish of a fight, then the fight shall be ruled a no contest.
McCarthy also says that while he saw something hit Thomson, it’s up to the CSAC to make the final ruling in the case.
“Now, is that going to change it? That’s for the state athletic commission to say,” McCarthy said. “But I’m going to be honest and say I saw something, (and) I wasn’t sure if it was a punch or a clash of the heads that hurt him. I went and asked somebody, and got information saying it was a punch, so it was the end of the fight based on a punch that I did see land that was legal that did land that was legal that did knock him out that was the end of the fight.”
There is no date set yet for when the CSAC will make a ruling on the appeal.
