I've been reading stuff here and there blaming this person and that person for the injuries that took place last night. The fact of the matter is, there is no one to blame because things happen in a contact sport like MMA.
The Cory Hill injury? Nothing can prevent that except Corey adding more vitamin D to his diet or something.
Razzak Al-Hassan getting his elbow dislocated(his arm isn't broken)? Most people are placing blame on either Hassan himself, or referee Mario Yamasaki. I prefer to look at things from a different perspective. In Al-Hassan you have a guy making his UFC debut on national television, and he's looking to impress. He's pressing the action the whole time, and then the fight goes to the ground where he gives up a dominant position to Cantwell. When Cantwell goes for the armbar, Al-Hassan goes for a legitimate escape and is squirming around trying to get free. Here's a gif:
I mean how many times have we seen guys in tight armbars, not tap and somehow get free? Ultimately, it's up to the fighter to tap if he wants, and obviously either Al-Hassan thought he could get free or he's too proud to tap and he knew the consequences. It's not like Mario Yamasaki had a gauge in his head like, "Ok his arms about to break so let me stop it." Now had Yamasaki stopped it right after Al-Hassan tried to step over and escape, everybody would have been calling an early stoppage.
Also, some people have been questioning whether Al-Hassan was experienced enough to be in the cage with Cantwell. Listen, they had the EXACT same amount of fights! It's not like Cantwell is an Abu Dhabi champion and Joe Silva thew Al-Hassan to the wolves. The guy was actually doing well up until the fight hit the ground. BTW, Steve Cantwell is a total ASS for openly admitting that he had been waiting his whole life to break somebody's arm.
In the Saunders/Wolff fight I've read that some people thought the referee let the fight go too long. Listen, Saunders was bombarding the guy with knees for sure. However, Wolff was intelligently defending himself up until the very end. Most of those knees landed on his arms/body for the most part, and towards the end Saunders began to connect with his face. It's not like Wolff just crumpled to the ground or anything while taking those shots until when the referee stopped the fight.
The Koscheck/Yoshida KO is a part of the game, and it was unfortunate that Yoshida suffered a concussion. I understand that he was treated at the hospital and released, so we wish him a speedy recovery.
To end this whole rant, I will say that that one referee didn't have clue about ANYTHING. I'm almost ashamed to say it, and I LIVE in North Carolina. Ironically, the referee that keep saying "Do Something Man" was the same guy that let Corey Hill get side mounted after his leg turned into gumby if I'm not mistaken. I think I may call the North Carolina Boxing Authority tomorrow and see what the steps are to become a certified MMA referee. Obviously, it's not too difficult here from the looks of it. Last night was just a reminder as to how brutal the sport of MMA can be, nothing more nothing less.
**Props To MMA4Real "Felix" for the gif.
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