I hate to interrupt the torch-lighting ceremony, but we may want to save a few pitchforks for the corner of Priscila Cachoeira, who recently joined a long and dubious list of parties responsible for last Saturday night’s bloodbath.
Watch the highlights here.
In case you actually have a life and went out last Saturday night (Feb. 3, 2018), instead of staying home to watch UFC Belem on FOX Sports 1, Cachoeira was destroyed by Valentina Shevchenko in her Octagon debut, which is not suprising when you consider “Bullet” (15-3) is a former bantamweight title contender with wins over Holly Holm and Julianna Pena, and also took reigning champion Amanda Nunes to the scorecards in two separate fights.
The initial blame was directed at referee Mario Yamasaki, who inexplicably let the fight continue, even after Shevchenko landed 230 strikes to just three from Cachoeira. It was a “disgusting performance” from the longtime man in black, according to promotion president Dana White.
He might want to check with Cachoeira’s coach, Gilliard Parana, who wasn’t overly offended by Yamasaki’s decision to let the punishment continue.
“I think he had his reasons not to stop it,” Parana said (via MMA Junkie). “He knows what he’s doing and ‘Pedrita’ was active. He could have stopped it, too. Both decisions were plausible, the way I see it.”
Parana and his team could have thrown in the towel or kept Cachoeira on the stool at the end of the first frame, but that’s not how they roll down there in Brazil. Warriors don’t get saved by their corners, they go out on their shields.
Or something like that.
“We never thought about quitting and we never will,” Parana continued. “It’s not part of our way of doing things. The ref is there to stop it, and if he doesn’t, we won’t be the ones doing it.”
If she dies, she dies.
That sentiment may have been shared by UFC matchmakers when they decided to throw an untested rookie to one of the most dangerous combatants on the female roster.
JUST BLEED!
Cachoeira (8-1) will have plenty of time to think about what went wrong. “Zombie Girl” blew out her knee somewhere in the first round, according to MMA Fighting, and will likely need eight months of post-surgical rehab to recover.
For more results from last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 125 mixed martial arts (MMA) showcase, held inside Brazil’s Mangueirinho Gymnasium, click here.