“What the hell are we talking about,” Chael Sonnen blasts on the controversy surrounding the referee’s decision in UFC Vegas 41 main event

“What the hell are we talking about,” Chael Sonnen blasts on the controversy surrounding the referee’s decision in UFC Vegas 41 main event

Paulo Costa- Chael Sonnen- Marvin Vettori

The only controversial thing that happened to UFC Vegas 41 main event besides the weight cutting debacle is the point-deduction to one half of the fight, Paulo Costa. This brought the bigger faces of the MMA community to talk about it, including former retired mixed-martial artist, Chael Sonnen. Sonnen targeted those who were uncomfortable with the point deduction and explained his own reasons as to why it shouldn’t be so controversial for judging a referee’s decision.

Costa’s point was deducted for poking his opponent Marvin Vettori’s eye in the second round. The point was deducted by the then referee Jason Herzog. The MMA world reacted with mixed opinions to the deduction because of Costa’s deduction in the very first unintentional foul.

WATCH: Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen reacts to controversial point-deduction by referee Jason Herzog

Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen

Chael Sonnen verbally laid down the rules that said that any foul is worthy of point deduction if based on the referee’s and judges’ interpretation.

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“Thinking that you have taken an egregious foul that the referee did not go within the confines of the set forth commission’s rules and interpret that accurately and you’re gonna use that somebody else along the way missed it and therefore the referee was all supposed to look the other way! I don’t understand the argument,” Sonnen said in a rather shocking way.

“You can lose a point for poking someone in the eye. He [Costa] poked him [Vettori] in the eye, do we dispute that? No, we don’t.” Sonnen continued. “We are all aware you can take a point for that, correct? It’s open to the interpretation of the judges and the referee at the moment. Okay, do we all agree to that? Then what are we talking about? What the hell are we possibly talking about?”

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Chael Sonnen’s post-fight analysis

“Unless you were to come in and make a claim that the referee saw it wrong, there’s nothing to discuss,” Sonnen concluded. We can either see the eye poke as something that should’ve been forgiven for the first time for Paulo Costa, or we can make this a warning for other fighters in the upcoming fights to better keep the fingers closed beforehand from now on. What do you think?

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