An appeal filed to overturn the result of a bout on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano undercard has been officially denied.
The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) denied Phumi Nkuta’s request to overturn his May 16 submission loss to Adriano Moraes, alleging the fight’s finish was mishandled by referee Herb Dean.
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Nkuta (11-1) claimed that he was still conscious upon the final bell, but went out after time had expired because Moraes (22-6) held the choke past the horn. CSAC executive directo Andy Foster did not deny the choke was held long, but said there was no definitive evidence Nkuta was not unconscious at the bell.
“We watched this replay,” Foster said. “I bet I’ve watched it 80 times now. We’ve watched it over and over. I’m still unsure when he went unconscious. When we’re not sure about something, it needs to be clear and convincing evidence if this commission is going to flip a fight, just to be very clear. I can’t tell you in any definitive way, at what point are we flipping the fight? What I can tell you is Mr. Nkuta would’ve won that fight, had he not been choked. I can tell you that. That was going to happen. The question for the commissioners is, and you can watch the tape and get your own opinion, is at what point was he unconscious?
“Another point is, do you think Herb should’ve charged him with a foul for holding it. I’ve heard the word, ‘2.15 seconds long.’ I wasn’t sure if it was that long, but let’s assume that it was 2.15 seconds. I don’t know if it was that long, but let’s make it that because that’s what I was told. I’ve seen fights like this, and I know you all have as well, where it happens quite frequently. The question is up for the commissioners but my recommendation is we have to maintain what the referee called that night. We went to replay. We’ve watched it many times that night and we still couldn’t determine.”
Nkuta traveled from Las Vegas to Sacramento to attend Monday’s hearing in person. He said he remembers hearing the horn and reiterated that two-plus seconds is significant when it comes to submissions.
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“If you see on the film as well, my eyes are squinting, my eyes are moving when the bell sounds,” Nkuta said. “From my perspective, I hear the bell. Obviously, it’s for you guys and the commission to decide. I think the one clear thing here is that Moraes did hold that choke for the extended amount of time. For anyone who has grappled before at a high level, or at any juncture, knows when you’ve held a choke in for a requisite amount of time, every second counts. He got the choke in in nine seconds. We’re already nine seconds in and Herb gets his hands on him. While Herb is prying his hands, he’s still holding the choke. Now, if he’d let go immediately, we’d have a clearer distinction of, ‘OK, he was unconscious.’
“Moraes, in my opinion, clearly committed a foul. Herb gets on him, tries to rip his hands off, and he continues to choke. From the back, they say, ‘Hold on to whatever and keep fighting until I stop it.’ Herb did try to stop it and Moraes still continued to hold the choke. So from that perspective as well, I just kind of look at it like he got away with one.”
Nkuta’s attorney and manager, Lance Spaude, of Iridium Sports Agency, joined the meeting electronically and provided a different objection to the commission. Spaude said that Dean did not call the fight a submission initially, but only after reviewing the replay cage-side.
“I think one thing is important to note, Herb didn’t actually stop the bout,” Spaude said. “The bout concluded at the bell. That was when Herb moved in to remove Mr. Moraes’ hands. He didn’t wave the bout off. In my opinion, the bout had concluded. It should’ve went to the scorecards. It was at that point that California had initiated the review. I agree with you, Mr. Foster, that there needs to be definitive, clear, convincing evidence to overturn a bout. In this case, I think that the bout was actually overturned that night after the conclusion when they reviewed it and that’s when you guys made the call.
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“When you’re having this discussion of, ‘We need to overturn the bout,’ it’s my position that the bout had concluded and then upon replay, that’s when the commission came in and said, ‘Oh, well, we actually think he was unconscious prior to the conclusion of the bout.’ If that was not the case, then Herb would’ve stepped in and stopped the bout prior to the bell, or even at the bell, he would’ve waved the bout off, which he did not do. I would like there to be some consideration from the commission that this bout has already been overturned from what the initial decision of what Herb was.”
CSAC commissioner members had glowing things to say about Nkuta as a competitor and his decision to attend the hearing in-person. However, following the public comment from Nkuta and Spaude, the commission did not respond directly to these arguments, outside of a brief comment from commissioner Dr. AnnaMaria De Mars.
“We ask the officials to make a judgement call under very difficult circumstances,” De Mars said. “You’re there. There are millions of people watching you. To change somebody’s decision, it has to be very egregious. I’m sitting here thinking about choking people and how fast your reaction time is. Is holding something for two seconds, when he’s under just as much pressure as you, a real egregious, deliberate foul? I just don’t see it that way.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: California denies appeal of controversial Rousey vs. Carano bout ending
