Tim Kennedy fought Yoel Romero during the main card fight of UFC 178. But the fight between both was not an ordinary one. Apparently, Romero took his time in between rounds to recover after getting nearly knocked out.
It happened during both times during the second and third round. The round always ended just in time when Romero as about to be get knocked on.
That is when it all started to get confusing. Official John McCarthy and Nevada Athletic Commission officials was informed of the anomaly where Romero's corner stalled on the stool and extra 28 seconds before returning to action.
It turned out to be previous seconds as Romero proceeded to TKO Kennedy just 38 seconds into the third round.
Tim Kennedy talked to MMA Hour to voice out his thoughts on the fight.
He said "I thought the fight was over twice. If anybody's to blame, it's totally me for the outcome. And I think somebody has to step up and be a bigger guy in all this. Dana [White] knows he cheated, the Nevada Athletic Commission knows that he cheated, his corner knew that he cheated. You know, they were bragging about it, smiling about it. [Ricardo] Liborio's coming up and apologizing..."
He continued "They all know what happened, it's the oldest trick in the book. It's no secret. If this is any other sport, if this is NFL or the NBA, it'd be like, oh man, the end of the fourth quarter, we're going to go an extra 28 seconds. It doesn't happen. It's beyond unprofessional, it's truly tragic."
Kennedy actually thought that the fight was already over when Romero did not stood up right after the given 60-break in between rounds.
He said "I thought the fight was actually ended. I thought when [McCarthy] came in actually that that was the end of the fight. I thought [at the end of the second round] he's stopping me from hitting him because he's out...so I got back to my corner and I'm like, yeah, cool, and then they bring the stool in and I'm like, this sucks."
"And then [my coach] Greg [Jackson]'s was like, get ready for him to swing for the fences, he's going to be dangerous. I'm like, what are you talking about? Is that not the end of the fight? Because I can see [Romero]. He's like, 'no mas, no mas, no mas' to his corner."
"I'm like, what's going on? I'm pointing at Dana, I'm pointing at the crowd, I'm pointing at the athletic commission, I'm pointing at the judges. I walked over there, and dude, it's an eternity when you're in the cage. If you get the 28 seconds to recover, imagine if I had the extra 28 seconds in the second round. The guy wouldn't be walking for a month."
