Fight between Romero and Kennedy had a controversial outcome at UFC 178. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Tim Kennedy still hasn't digested the defeat he suffered against Yoel romero at UFC 178, held last Saturday (27). What bothers the North American fighter is not even the defeat itself, but rather the controversial way in which it occurred.
In the last moments of the second round, Kennedy came close to knocking out Romero, who was saved by the bell. When it came time to return to the fight for the final round, Romero took 28 seconds longer than the regulation time, as the cutman of the UFC put too much Vaseline on the Cuban's face and needed extra time to remove it. As soon as the fight resumed, Romero landed powerful blows on Kennedy, winning by technical knockout.
In an interview with the podcast “The MMA Hour”, Kennedy spared no criticism of Romero for the episode. “Everyone knows what happened. This is the oldest trick there is. There's no secret. It's something that goes beyond the lack of professionalism, it's a tragedy. Dana [White, UFC president] knows he cheated, the Nevada Commission knows he cheated, his corner knows he cheated. And after that, they were bragging, smiling,” criticized Kennedy, who continued: “Everything they did was calculated, from the extra Vaseline, the water bottles they knocked on the floor, the stool… This is pathetic too much. And the fact that they treat it with pride makes it even more tragic.”
Kennedy stated that, amid the delay in fighting being resumed, he thought that the fight had been ended. “Twice I thought the fight was over. I didn't understand what was happening. Just imagine if I had 28 more seconds in the second round? This guy wasn’t going to walk for a month,” he said. “I was finished. I wasn't there anymore mentally, which was a huge mistake on my part. I thought the fight was over, that I had won, but I made a big mistake. I wasn’t even thinking about the fight anymore.”
The American also criticized the performance of the fight's referee, veteran John McCarthy, who had warned before the fight that Romero could use dirty strategies to get out of trouble. “I think John is the best referee in the organization. I respect him and Herb Dean so much. But he really fucked up my fight. He got caught by a bunch of guys who did sh*t, and he let it happen. And before the fight, I told him that if I hurt him, they would start playing dirty,” he said.
The defeat represented the first knockout suffered by Kennedy in his 13-year MMA career. This was also his first setback since joining the UFC from Strikeforce.
Romero’s coach defends himself: “I would never do something like that”
The head coach of Yoel romero, Ricardo Libório, defended himself against Tim Kennedy's accusations and assured that the delay in the Cuban's return to combat was not intentional. The leader of the American Top Team gym explains that what happened was due to a misunderstanding.
“Big John noticed there was a lot of Vaseline on the cut and asked Paulino [Hernandez, boxing trainer] to clean it up. But Paulino doesn't speak English and didn't understand what was happening, so he started cleaning his body. Yoel was sitting, waiting for someone to clean him up,” said Libório, in an interview with the North American website “MMA Fighting”.
“I don't know exactly how long it took for the fight to restart, but Yoel wasn't knocked out and he never asked for the fight to stop. The whole situation was a mess. Paulino didn't intend to save time, that's not my style. I would never do something like that,” he concluded.
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