“You don’t need your eyes.”
Some interesting corner work from Francisco Prado’s team after
Zellhuber battered their fighter in the second round.Advertisement
Either way, both Zellhuber and Prado are two promising prospects.
pic.twitter.com/o1FiEJHSf8
— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA)
February 25, 2024
Francisco
Prado coach Asim Zaidi
stands by his decision to not throw in the towel despite his
fighter having compromised vision at the end of Round 2 at
UFC Fight Night 237 on Saturday.
Prado took on Mexico’s Daniel
Zellhuber in enemy territory in a “Fight of the Night”-winning
lightweight clash on the main card. While Prado showed immense
heart in going the distance against Zellhuber, he was picked apart
on the feet by “Golden Boy” en route to a unanimous decision
loss.
When Prado walked back to his corner with a battered right eye at
the end of Round 2, his coach appeared to give him a strategy to
fight with compromised vision instead of throwing in the towel. A
well-known figure in the world of combat sports, Zaidi is the CEO
of the Miami-based
Goat Shed Academy and is the president of the up-and-coming
league Karate Combat. Zaidi claims that some of the pep talk he
gave Prado going into the final frame was lost in translation.
“The translator said, ‘You don’t need your eyes. Fight. Go to the
center. Just fight. You don’t need your eyes. If you fight in the
clinch, you won’t need your eyes. Do not fight in the center of the
ring. In the center, you need your eyes. Get him to the fence,
wrestle and clinch fight him so you don’t rely on your eyes,’”
Zaidi told MMAjunkie.com. “Going into that third round, my
fighter and I truly had a Rocky [Balboa] and [trainer] Mickey
moment. Both of us were willing to die for a victory. He told me he
couldn’t see, so I immediately gave him a strategy to continue
fighting.
“The translator, unfortunately, was not able to translate properly
and made me sort of look like a psychopath – not that I mind. The
translator is a great dude and just spazzed a bit. I told my
fighter that his eyes are needed in long-range fighting. Do not
fight the opponent in the center. He does not need his eyes if he
fights in the clinch. I asked him to focus on striking in the
clinch and grappling on the fence so he will not rely on his
eyes.”
The cageside doctor cleared Prado to fight before the third round.
Additionally, the 21-year-old Argentine prospect was even on two of
the judges’ scorecards going into the third. While many have
criticized Zaidi for now throwing in the towel, he still firmly
stands by his decision.
“It was very clearly 1-1 going into the third round,” he said.
“Whoever won that third round would take the fight. No fighter or
coach on the planet would throw a towel in for that. It’s easy for
a casual to ask to throw in the towel. Most casuals don’t
understand the sacrifices a fighter goes through.
“Francisco, his training partners, my assistant coach [Mango] and I
all left our families and have been living in a town in Mexico for
three weeks – all of us in one small house, showering with buckets
of water and grinding in the mountains. My fighter wouldn’t go
through all that sacrifice only to give up in the third round of a
close fight. We live by the sword and die by the sword. And I, too,
am willing to die to see my fighter successful.”