Days out from a controversial draw with upstart Song Yadong, Cody Stamann is hoping the UFC makes things right — and is a little surprised at the latest rankings update.
Las Vegas, NV — Xtreme Couture’s Cody Stamann battled to a draw with Song Yadong at UFC on ESPN 7 last weekend.
The outcome of the fight, scored 29–27, 28–28, 28–28, certainly raised a few eyebrows. Yadong had seen a point deducted in the opening round following a blatant illegal knee. Yet two judges gave that round to the Chinese fighter initially, resulting in a 9-9 score that frame.
The third gave it to Stamann, giving him a 10-8 after the point was taken, resulting in a 29-27 overall. End result, a majority draw.
Days later, Stamann is still hopeful that the UFC will take care of him. As bad as not collecting the victory, after all, was not collecting his win bonus.
And then there’s the UFC’s much maligned official rankings, which just updated. “Rob Font got ranked above me?” Stamann asked incredulously, speaking to Cageside Press in Las Vegas this week. “He just fought an unranked guy.”
Font, indeed, has switched spots with Stamann, rising to 9th, while Stamann himself dropped to 10th.
In any case, Stamann is staying positive, though he admitted Wednesday that “I think this process is going to go a little slower than what I’d like.”
His preference, “obviously if I get out of the cage, I walk out, they’re like ‘hey we know you won, we’re take care of you, don’t’ worry about it.'” Instead, he stated, “this is something I think that’s going to play out over a longer period of time.”
The hope is that Dana White and co., who know fights as well as anyone, recognize that Stamann did enough to earn the win. “These guys know fighting well. They’re going to watch that fight, and enough people are going to talk about it, and they’re going to take care of me. I’m confident in that.”
So in the meantime he’ll move forward, Stamann said. “As long as everyone knows I won. I’m treated like I won. Even though Rob Font just got ranked above me. I beat a ranked opponent, he beat an unranked opponent, I haven’t figured that out.”
“As long as the UFC sees it as a win moving forward and I’m sitting in the driver’s seat,” he added, and “I kind of get to choose where I go, we’re good.”
As for what’s coming up for Stamann moving forward, Cody Garbrandt is a name he’d be interested in. Only, “I’ve heard rumors he’s fighting someone else though.”
Things are essentially wide open for Stamann, but he has an idea of what he’s looking for. “I want my manager to come back with a list of names, and tell me ‘here are the guys you can potentially fight,'” he said.
“I’m going to pick the guy that’s most beneficial to me long term. I’m going to fight that guy. Beat him, then I’m going after someone big.” That, he believes, should push him to contender status. “I want to put myself in a position where that phone call for the title shot isn’t far away.”
Watch our full interview with UFC bantamweight Cody Stamann above!
