Welcome to a “better late than never” edition of our Sunday MMA Quick Hits, which, depending on your locale, might actually be Monday at this point. This time out, we cover Anthony Pettis’ broken hands, BJ Penn’s election flop, and a judge opening up about his scoring criteria and thought process after criticism from Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier.
Read on!
Anthony Pettis breaks both hands in PFL Playoffs fight
Anthony Pettis did not have a good night against Stevie Ray at PFL 7 last Friday, ending up bounced from the playoffs after losing a unanimous decision. It was an immediate rematch of their regular season fight, which Ray won via submission.
To add insult to injury — or honestly, injury to injury — Pettis broke both hands in the fight.
— Anthony Pettis (@Showtimepettis) August 6, 2022
UFC 277 judge responds to criticism from Rogan, Cormier
Judge Seth Fuller, who worked the UFC 277 card at the end of July, has “clapped back” at Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier, who were highly critical of his scorecard in a certain heavyweight fight at the event.
After Fuller scored the third round for Don’Tale Mayes in his fight against Hamdy Abdelwahab, Joe Rogan commented that “that guy [Fuller] needs a talking to. We need to check and see what he bet on.”
In a video posted on Youtube — apparently in violation of Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation guidelines — Full directly addressed the comments.
“I have a thick skin, but it’s not right, because it’s just not factual,” he said of the criticism.
“I figure I’ve judged about 80 cards and several hundred fights themselves,” Fuller noted. “I’ve judged and reffed, because I do both. Now again, is that experience enough? I don’t know in what profession 10 years of doing something is not considered seasoned.”
When it comes to scoring round three, Fuller explained that many of Abdelwahab’s strikes on the ground were cumulative, not damaging. “All these punches on the ground do score, but again according to the rules that I’m following, they’re cumulative in nature.” Mayes, he added, “was not affected by these punches at all.”
On the other hand, Mayes had a front kick early in the round, then a flying knee, teep kick, and head kick later on following the fighters being stood up.
“If you disagree, that’s fine,” Fuller said. “Two other judges obviously disagreed, and I have no problem with that. I just want to show you I’m not an idiot. I’m not bad at scoring. I don’t not know what I’m looking at. I do know what I’m looking at. In fact, I’d say I know the rules that I just read to you better than the announcers, because the announcers just went through the course that I went through 12 years ago, and their scores were all over the place.”
Shannon Ross gets UFC contract after emergency surgery for ruptured appendix
Australian flyweight Shannon Ross had to be rushed to hospital for emergency surgery following his appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series on August 2, thanks to a ruptured appendix. And while he lost his fight on the show (against Vinicius Salvador), he got some good news coming out of surgery:
The UFC had called, and signed him to a deal.
Ross himself announced the news on social media this past week.
“Coming out of that surgery getting a call from my manager Danny Rubenstein made everything that little sweeter, I could hardly move or react but the emotions inside were on a all time high,” Ross wrote. “He told me that he had been in contact with Mick Maynard and they wanted to sign me after the craziness that had unraveled, before the fight, in the fight and after the fight.”
“And all I can say is I gave it absolutely everything I had to get here and make this happen,” he added. “SO YOU CAN NOW SAY HI TO AUSTRALIA’S NEWEST UFC FLYWEIGHT.”
Read the full statement from Ross below.
BJ Penn loses Republican Primary
The State of Hawaii Office of Elections has the numbers for the recent Republican primary for state governor, and BJ Penn will not be on the ballot moving forward.
According to the official count, Penn received 22.2 percent of the vote, far back of winner Duke Aiona’s 47.5 percent. Aiona is a former two-time Republican Lieutenant Governor.
Penn had entered the race campaigning to put a stop to COVID-19 restrictions.
Aiona will go head-to-head with Lieutenant Governor Josh Green, a Democrat, this November.
Penn, a former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion, has no prior political experience. With that in mind, while he did lose the primary by a wide margin, it’s a not altogether unimpressive feat to secure over 20% of the vote.
