Ricky Simon and Merab Dvalishvili went toe-to-toe over the weekend, as the two mixed martial artist threw down for UFC Fight Night 128. While Dvalishvili was seemingly getting the better of his opponent for much of the fight, Simon ultimately walked away with a TKO victory over the fighter.
Simon locked in a guillotine submission attempt in the final moments of the fight, with Dvalishvili defending the choke until the sound of the bell. The referee never called a stop to the contest.
Still, the octagon was soon filled with officials arguing over the result of the match up. It was ultimately decided that Simon would be awarded a TKO victory, rather than a technical submission win or a likely Dvalishvili sided decision.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, veteran referee Marc Goddard offered his thoughts on the matter. Goddard was not the referee for the fight, but was cage side for the match up. The referee helped his fellow officials in reaching a decision for the match.
“I think it was pretty clear at the end of the fight, maybe even before, when the bell sounded, Dvalishvili … he was out. He was actually out. And in that instance, it’s like any other instance if you pick up a rear-naked choke or a guillotine. The fact that he drifts into unconsciousness was actually — it should be recorded as a submission, technical submission.”
“There was a bit of confusion, it was loud, and I just wanted to make sure that they weren’t going to go to the scorecards, because that’s the way it looked like it was going to be heading. But the referee Liam Kerrigan, to his credit, when he saw [Dvalishvili] was out, he actually waved it off. And I think there was a little bit of a rush, people thought we were going to try and read the scorecards, so I said, ‘No, no, no. The guy has lost the fight.’ Even though he came around pretty sharp afterwards, he most definitely lost the fight under the ruling and the right guy went away with the win.”
