Cody Stamann is looking for his employer to “make it right” after what he feels was a robbery in his bout with Song Yadong at UFC DC.
Washington, D.C. — Draws in MMA are rare enough. Two draws on one card, especially a UFC event, is practically unheard of. That’s what fans got at UFC on ESPN 7, however. The co-main event saw Cynthia Calvillo battle to a draw against Marina Rodriguez. Earlier in the night, Cody Stamann and Song Yadong ended on a similar note.
Not that Stamann saw it that way, he told reporters including Cageside Press following the fight. “I think I got robbed, I think everyone knows I got robbed,” said Stamann. “I obviously won that fight. I beat China’s top prospect Song Yadong.”
Stamann’s coaches told him he won the first round, given his opponent had a point taken away for an illegal knee (Stamann was a downed opponent when it hit). “Second round was close, obviously I won the third round, I came out, took him down, was on top of him the entire round.”
“I got robbed. I got robbed no doubt,” he reiterated. “It doesn’t help that he’s a 2-to-1 favorite. That’s got to be one of the reasons, that everyone expects him to win. If you expect someone else to win, maybe you don’t look at the fight the same way.”
Stamann has been here before, he said, with a previous loss, which he didn’t specify, leaving him with a similar feeling. A quick peek at his record shows a split decision loss to Lawrence DiGiulio in 2014 as the culprit. “So it’s not an unfamiliar feeling.”
It’s not the outcome that bothers Stamann as much as the lack of income, however. “I fight to make money. I don’t give a sh*t, they can keep that as a draw, they can put it as a loss, I don’t give a sh*t,” he said. “But, I just want to make it right. Give me another check. Give me another check, and I don’t care, we’ll never talk about this again. No one can ever bring it up. Everyone knows I won. I went out and beat a guy while I was a 2-to-1 underdog. Third time I’ve done that in my UFC career, and I’m sure I won’t be the last.”
Stamann (18-2-1) later used Twitter to address the UFC, saying he’d “earned that money.”
I took a dangerous fight against the best up and coming guy in the division, and clearly won. The judges did me wrong tonight and I want the @ufc to make it right. I earned that money. @TeamIridiumISA @IridiumSports @seanshelby @danawhite @Mickmaynard2
— Cody Stamann (@CodyStamann) December 8, 2019
The illegal knee in the first round, meanwhile, was something Stamann almost seemed to have forgotten about, with all the talk of judging. However, “it wasn’t bad at all,” he said. “I felt like his kneecap poked my eyeball. It slid and like hit my eye, it messed with my eyelash almost. But I got up, and I was just pissed. I was pissed. Like ‘you can’t do that, what are you doing?’ And I got up, the ref was like ‘are you okay? Take a second.’ And I was like ‘turn him around, let’s fight.’ I was ready to fight at the point. It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t affecting the fight. Obviously crazy illegal. You can’t do that.”
At least the call was the right one. “The ref obviously took a point. If I would have done the same thing, I would have expected the same result. That’s one thing they did get right here in Washington, D.C.”
Watch the full UFC DC post-fight press scrum with Cody Stamann above!
