The final fight of the FX broadcasted portion of the UFC 154: "St. Pierre vs. Condit" preliminary card last night (Sat., Nov. 17, 2012) at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was shaping up to be an entertaining slugfest between two bangers in Patrick Cote and Alessio Sakara.
The two opened strong and exchanged big punches, blitzing and blasting each other on a mission to take home that coveted "Fight of the Night" bonus.
Instead, after just 86 seconds passed, Sakara found himself disqualified for illegal blows to the back of the head, which had knocked Cote out. "The Predator" had swarmed his hurt opponent but ended up on the receiving end of some vicious shots to the back of his dome, no less than four or five of them clearly illegal.
And all in view of referee Dan Miragliotta.
That's what led UFC President Dana White to comment on the matter at the post-fight press conference:
"(The stoppage was) way late. I haven't heard anything about (Cote) that he's not okay but that was a horrible job. I counted between seven and nine illegal punches to the back of the head. It was crazy. He was just standing there watching it. Didn't jump in, didn't do anything. And I'm pretty sure, I think it should have been a no contest, not awarded to Cote, but a no contest. But, horrible, really bad."
Sakara's management agrees that it should have been ruled a no contest and they plan on filing an appeal to get the result overturned. Whether or not that happens is almost irrelevant, as White revealed the promotion plans to put together an immediate rematch.
Joy.
For more on the bout and a detailed recap of the entire UFC 154 preliminary card click here. For complete results and coverage of UFC 154 click here.