D. Lewis (left) defeats I. Latifi (right) in the UFC 247. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @ufceurope
The controversies involving the judges of the UFC 247, held last Saturday (8), in Houston (USA), were not just in the main fight of the show. One of the protagonists of the first fight on the main card, Ilir Latifi took the opportunity to criticize the professionals about their defeat to Derrick Lewis in the show. In an interview with 'MMA Fighting', the Swede spoke about the situation.
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“I wasn’t shocked that they robbed me. It's sad to see that they did that, because this is the future of the sport. They are playing with athletes, fighters, lives that are put at risk. We sacrifice a lot. We sacrifice our health. We left our family. We do so much, and leaving it in the hands of judges or a committee that doesn't understand the sport or favors someone is wrong. There should also be consequences for this”, said the athlete.
The Swede once again stated that there should be punishments for accounting errors on the part of the judges. According to the athlete, the same rhetoric used against fighters should be applied to external professionals when they make mistakes.
“When fighters make mistakes or break the rules, they are punished for it. But when judges do harm or rob people of their fights, there are no consequences. It's bad. Affects combatants. People might say 'next time you're going to have a big fight', but in a way, f*** that. I did everything for this fight. I came in as the big 'underdog'. I honestly think the judges and everyone there didn't think I would last a minute and I came in and dominated him. It wasn’t perhaps what they thought, but that’s the truth”, he concluded.
The setback for Lewis made Latifi's situation within the organization complicated. The athlete needed to win to avoid a sequence of two negative setbacks. With the defeat, the athlete received his third negative result and is at risk of being dismissed by the organization.
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