Cody Garbrandt is back in the win column following his fight against Long Xiao on the CBS simulcast portion of UFC 326, but it was a close thing that required two point deductions and a potential rule violation to make it happen.
Garbrandt, who hasn’t looked the same since a bad case of COVID ravaged his body in 2020, took two brutal kicks to the groin in the third round of his fight with Xiao, leaving him vomiting into a bucket as he struggled to recover and continue to fight. Those kicks would generate
two point deductions, allowing Cody to circle away from Long for the remainder of the third round and win the fight via 28-27 decision.
But fans who have read the Unified Rules of MMA were confused. According to the rules, shouldn’t the fight have ended the moment Garbrandt threw up? Accidental Fouls subsection 3B states “If a fighter, during the course of a round, visibly loses control of bodily function (vomit, urine, feces), the fight shall be stopped by the referee and the fighter shall lose the contest by a Technical Knockout (TKO) due to Medical Stoppage.”
According to pioneering MMA referee “Big” John McCarthy, there’s an exception to the rule that allows for a fighter to vomit during a time out due to an illegal strike.
“The Cody Gardbrandt vomiting situation was handled beautifully by Herb Dean and the NSAC Ringside Physician,” McCarthy wrote. “Cody was fouled and a timeout was called by Herb. Cody has up to 5 minutes to recover from the foul. A bucket was brought in for Cody based upon him feeling nauseous due to the foul.”
“He did use the bucket, so it was imperative that the ringside physician at this point is controlling the physical activity and determining whether Cody can continue or does the fight need to be stopped and decided by a Technical Decision based upon the fight being in the 3rd round of a 3 round fight.”
That may make sense, but the rules as written don’t actually support this. Accidental Fouls subsection 3Bi only covers “loss of bodily function occurs in the rest period between rounds,” not during a referee time out. Subsection 3Bii also notes that if poop is involved, the fight is over no matter what. So at least they have that part ironed out with no wiggle room.
Let’s be clear: the rule as written was not followed. And if the fight had gone to the judges after Garbrandt had thrown up, it would have been a majority draw because Long had only been deducted one point at that time. Its not just gambling bros who should be angry about this. Rule nerds should be upset as well! If that’s the way the rules should work, it should be written like that in the damn rule book.
