Phumi
Nkuta’s bid to overturn the lone loss of his professional
career did not go in his favor.

The California State Athletic Commission on Monday denied Nkuta’s
appeal to overturn his technical submission defeat against Adriano
Moraes at
MVP: Ronda
Rousey vs. Gina Carano.
Nkuta argued that Moraes held a fight-ending choke beyond the final
horn and that referee Herb Dean
mishandled the sequence.

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However, the commission ruled there was insufficient evidence to
change the official result.

California State Athletic Commission denies Phumi Nkuta appeal
after Adriano Moraes fight

On May 16, Nkuta and Moraes clashed in a flyweight bout on the main
card of MVP’s Rousey vs. Carano-headlined event. Near the end of the fight, Moraes had Nkuta in a choke. As the
final bell rang, the former held on to the choke for what Nkuta
claims was around 2.15 seconds after the horn. The official result
was a technical submission victory for the former One
Championship titleholder.

Nkuta then filed an appeal to overturn the loss, claiming that he
was still conscious when the final bell rang, but went out after
time had expired because Moraes held the choke. He further argued
that the fight should have gone to the judges’ scorecards, where
Nkuta believes he did enough to secure a decision victory.

CSAC executive director Andy Foster
did not deny that the choke was held for longer than it was
necessary, but said that there was no definitive evidence that
Nkuta was not unconscious at the bell.

“I bet I’ve watched it 80 times now. We’ve watched it over and
over. I’m still unsure when he went unconscious. When we’re not
sure about something, it needs to be clear and convincing evidence
if this commission is going to flip a fight, just to be very
clear,” Foster said of the judgement (via MMA Junkie).

Nkuta, who traveled from Las Vegas to Sacramento to attend Monday’s
hearing in person, said that he remembers hearing the final horn.
The commission did not respond directly to these arguments from
Nkuta and his attorney, Lance Spaude, apart from a brief comment by
commissioner Dr. AnnaMaria De Mars, a former judo champion and the
mother of Ronda Rousey.

“We ask the officials to make a judgement call under very difficult
circumstances,” Dr. De Mars said. “You’re there. There are millions
of people watching you. To change somebody’s decision, it has to be
very egregious. I’m sitting here thinking about choking people and
how fast your reaction time is. Is holding something for two
seconds, when he’s under just as much pressure as you, a real
egregious, deliberate foul? I just don’t see it that way.”

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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