Jake Matthews’ team has confirmed that they are appealing their fighter’s third round submission loss to Neil Magny at UFC Perth over the weekend.
Matthews caught Magny in a guillotine choke at the very
end of the first round, causing referee Jim Perdios to wave the fight off with a second left. But when Magny sprung back up to his feet after the buzzer sounded, Perdios allowed the fight to continue rather than stand by his initial call.
Magny would survive another two rounds of domination from Matthews and then catch the Australian in a brabo choke with two minutes left, earning the victory (watch the second finish here).
“The whole situation was strange,” UFC executive David Shaw said at the UFC Perth post-fight press conference. “The fact pattern as we saw it was the arm seemed to go a little bit limp, right? Magny’s arm kind of came out and sort of flopped a little bit as if he was about to go out.”
“My only assumption is that the ref assumed that he was going out and seemed to have stopped the fight … It seemed like he stopped the fight, and he stopped the fight importantly before the bell. Now there didn’t seem to be much time before the bell and so that’s where the confusion started. Very clearly, the ref thought that Neil was sort of coming to or he was fine and then allowed the fight to continue. So where do we go from here?”
“Matthews his camp is able to lodge some sort of appeal,” Shaw continued. “But this is all in the hands of the Western Australian Combat Commission. And so it’s up to them to determine what the next step is … So the only comment I think we should make as the promoter — and by the way, promoter of both athletes — is this is in the hands of the commission to figure out what to do next.”
In a statement given to BJPenn.com, Matthews’ manager stated, “Yes, we will be appealing,” and they hope to get the loss turned into a No Contest. Will the Western Australia Combat Commission go with that? Does Matthews actually deserve a win, considering the fight was definitely waved off in the first? We’ll know in the coming days or weeks how they deal with this clear screw up.
Asked if Matthews would get his win bonus, Shaw wasn’t sure.
“Yes, there is a chance,” Shaw said. “But I don’t know whether or not that’s something that Hunter [Cambpell] and Sean [Shelby] who are here tonight, and Mick [Maynard], would have to decide.”
