Controversy at UFC Fight Night as Chris Barnett loses to Martin Buday via technical decision as Barnett was unable to continue fighting after Martin threw an illegal elbow to the back of his head.
Barnett was coming off a very impressive knockout victory over Gian Villante at UFC 268 via a spinning heel kick. He looked to keep the momentum going as he took on Martin Buday in the prelims today. However, that was not the case.
Buday made his debut for the UFC tonight and displayed an impressive array of striking capabilities. He dominated the ‘beast boy’ for the entirety of the first 2 rounds and his bodywork was vicious. But at 1:38 of the third round, he landed an elbow while Barnett was taking cover.
30-27
30-27
30-27Martin Buday scores a technical unanimous decision victory at #UFCVegas51 pic.twitter.com/5yu3YcINxk
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 16, 2022
The elbow landed on the back of Chris’ head and the referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight immediately. After getting checked by the ringside physician, Barnett was not cleared to continue fighting and the fight went to the Judges’ cards instead. Buday won the fight via unanimous decision as all 3 of them scored the fight 30-27.
UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou reacts to Chris Barnett vs Martin Buday
Usually, whenever an illegal strike lands on a fighter and they can’t continue, the person to land the blow is disqualified. However, this time around, the referee decided to go to the cards instead giving Barnett the option to continue despite the fighter pleading to continue. It had not impressed Francis Ngannou.
The UFC heavyweight champion thought not only the stroke was illegitimate, but the strike seemed intentional as well. But the officials present at the event determined that it was not intentional. Ngannou wrote,
Clearly intentional ????????♂️
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) April 16, 2022
Jamahal Hill also questioned the motive behind the shot. He slammed the officials for going to the scorecards instead of disqualifying Martin Buday immediately.
So if I get up in a fight all I have to do is land an illegal shot so the dr stops it and I win? Hmm interesting!!
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH) April 16, 2022
Although Chris Barnett may consider himself unlucky not to be able to get a DQ victory similar to what Aljamain Sterling had against Petr Yan during their first fight, Barnett will have to make a lot of adjustments to his game before the next fight. Because he was found lacking in his striking tonight.