Manuel Torres scored the most important win of his profession at UFC Mexico, however the end was not with out controversy.
It wasn’t a query of whether or not Torres deserved his first-round knockout win over Drew Dober, as Torres had Dober badly damage with a proper hand and made certain to seal the cope with a collection of thudding hammer fists. However the timing of the stoppage caused some criticism to be directed at referee Mike Beltran.
UFC light-weight Renato Moicano commented on social media, “If he dies, he dies,” referencing the notorious Rocky 4 scene the place Apollo Creed is killed in a struggle by Ivan Drago.
On the night’s post-fight press conference, Torres was requested in regards to the controversy.
“Should you have a look at the replay, watching the referee, like, I’m making a number of harm to my opponent, however he didn’t cease the struggle, so I’m knowledgeable, so I hold doing it,” Torres mentioned through a Spanish translator. “However yeah, after all I really feel that my opponent, he was somewhat down even earlier than the stoppage.”
Although Torres acknowledged he felt the bout might have been stopped earlier, he additionally identified that Beltran might have had the misfortune of being ready the place he couldn’t correctly assess Dober’s situation. The closing sequence noticed Torres battering Dober with unprotected hammer fists, with Dober’s face solely partially seen as he held on to Torres’ leg.
Nonetheless, it appeared there was greater than sufficient visually for Beltran to name the struggle. Torres doesn’t fault him for the error.
“Simply in sure positions, that may occur,” Torres mentioned. “On this one, after all, Drew Dober was wanting down, so for the referee it was exhausting to observe if he was out or no. However yeah, I believe that they might work somewhat bit on that sort of factor, however he was simply in a extremely particular place.”
Apart from to maintain combating, Torres had little management over the stoppage, which was adopted by Dober getting again to his toes and squaring up, seemingly oblivious to the bout being over.
Regardless, Torres has put himself into place for an even bigger alternative with 4 wins and 4 bonuses in his first 5 UFC appearances, and he hopes to be booked for the newly introduced UFC 320 occasion set to happen in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“UFC simply introduced Mexican card on Sept. 13, so after all I need to be a part of that occasion,” Torres mentioned. “I really feel that I do a number of issues within the identify of Mexico and for certain I wish to struggle in Mexico once more. With a prime 15 fighter, with a prime 15 opponent.”
