The Doc that called the stoppage

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Hong Kong Phooey

Spreading The Coronavirus one Corona at a Time
Feb 12, 2015
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The doctor who stopped UFC 244’s main event said he’s been bombarded by threats and harassment since his controversial call.

Dr. Nitin K. Sethi, a New York-based neurologist, said the MMA community should “hang its head in shame” for the way he’s been treated.

Sethi has contemplated asking for police protection in the wake of the fans’ behavior following the event. He said fans have personally threatened him, called his office, and posted fake reviews bashing him online.

”I’m a very good neurologist and a very good doctor, and calling me f*cking scum online and calling my office staff and yelling at them, threatening me, I fear for my health and safety,” he told MMA Fighting. “Somebody’s going to get hurt, and it’s probably going to be me this time.

”People don’t realize what they do when they talk about these things. But that’s the hard reality of this sport.”

Sethi was hired by the New York State Athletic Commission – on which he serves as the commission’s chief medical officer – to oversee the “BMF” title bout this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden. He said he’s worked for the commission “for a while” as a cageside doctor.

Between the third and fourth rounds of the pay-per-view headliner, Sethi advised referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the bout, which awarded Jorge Masvidal a third-round TKO victory over Nate Diaz. Diaz had suffered a massive cut over his right eye and a slightly smaller cut under it.

Fans immediately jeered the decision, prompting a testy response from Masvidal and a promise from he and Diaz that they would fight again. UFC President Dana White later hedged on that idea, saying he agreed with Sethi’s call to stop the fight.

Sethi declined to discuss the medical basis for his decision, saying it would be personally and professionally unethical for him to discuss a patient’s condition publicly. But he defended his choice as a necessary answer to an imminent concern for Diaz’s health and safety.

”I made an objective call based on my assessment of the fighter,” he said. “Not just the cut, but the overall assessment of the fighter (and) how the fight was going. Once I felt I could not guarantee the health and safety going forward, I had to make a tough call.

”The moment I lose my objectivity and I’m concerned how my actions are viewed by the UFC, by the fans, by the media, then I cease to be a ringside physician, and I cease to be doing my job. I have to be objective, and objectively, you make a call.”

Sethi added that referee Miragliotta had expressed concerns about Diaz to the commission following the second frame, but he decided to give the fighter one more round.

”Going forward off that third round, I could not guarantee his health and safety,” he said. “When in doubt, you have to do what you have to do to protect the athlete’s safety. His health and safety comes first. Every action of mine has to be viewed with that foremost in everybody’s mind, but that doesn’t happen.”

The doctor takes no issue with those who disagree with his decision. He said he welcomes feedback from fans and media who may think he stopped it too early or too late. It’s when the criticism escalates to physical threats and harassment that he believes the sport devolves into barbarism.

”It’s a shame that’s what it boils down to,” he said. “Anybody who’s involved in that sport should be hanging their head in shame when that happens. That’s not how sports are done. I’ve never experienced that, and I’ve been involved in a lot of sports.”

Sethi partly blames the reaction he received on the UFC, which he said made things worse by calling attention to his decision. UFC commentator Joe Rogan said it was “very, very usual for a doctor to stop a fight for a cut like that” in a post-fight interview with Diaz.

”You have a very, very charged crowd, and you just make it more charged,” he said. “I was walking back [from the cage] and people from the top were yelling at me, ‘f*ck this, f*ck that.’”

At the post-fight press conference, Diaz implied that Sethi had tricked him by saying everything was OK after a check of his cuts. Sethi declined to address that claim, again citing professional standards of behavior for medical professionals.

”I can only defend my medical decision making process,” he said. “I have the highest respect for Mr. Diaz, and he’s a fighter who never quits, and he certainly would have not quit and would have liked to continue, and he did say that to me in the cage. I can appreciate that.

”Everybody has a different threshold of stopping a fight. A fan (or) a referee or the media might have a different threshold. A doctor has a different threshold of stopping a fight, and in the end, if a doctor’s there, you need to respect the threshold.”

The backlash hasn’t necessarily discouraged Sethi from working for the commission in the future but he said the message sent to other doctors is clear.

”After what happened to me, let me tell you one thing: The only thing sad about this will be you’ll have doctors who will now be very afraid to make calls,” he said. “And when people are scared to make calls because they’re so afraid of the repercussions, I think we’re entering dangerous territory.”
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
71,541
71,465
lotta people lost huge bets

I was fine with the stoppage...those cuts were gonna get bigger and haggard if he pushed into the counterstrike combos from jorge

Not a good situation for the doc, probably underpaid for the hate he will be dealing with

his face was like a softball afterwards...I don't wanna see cuts in a full circle around the dudes eyes
 
Last edited:

Atto

Chinese Virus
Feb 11, 2016
4,750
5,611
Sethi declined to discuss the medical basis for his decision, saying it would be personally and professionally unethical for him to discuss a patient’s condition publicly.
Ohh shut the f up sethi. Deport him now.
 

tang

top korean roofer
Oct 21, 2015
9,398
12,402
maybe Nate almost lost an eye


or


Dana had a light bulb turned on in his head 'oh~ we can make more money off of a rematch~'
"Doc, get in there and stop the fight!"
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
56,268
maybe Nate almost lost an eye


or


Dana had a light bulb turned on in his head 'oh~ we can make more money off of a rematch~'
"Doc, get in there and stop the fight!"
In either case I'm still waiting for a good reason not to have stopped that fight.
 

kaladin stormblessed

Nala fanboy
Apr 24, 2017
17,627
20,132


The doctor who stopped UFC 244’s main event said he’s been bombarded by threats and harassment since his controversial call.

Dr. Nitin K. Sethi, a New York-based neurologist, said the MMA community should “hang its head in shame” for the way he’s been treated.

Sethi has contemplated asking for police protection in the wake of the fans’ behavior following the event. He said fans have personally threatened him, called his office, and posted fake reviews bashing him online.

”I’m a very good neurologist and a very good doctor, and calling me f*cking scum online and calling my office staff and yelling at them, threatening me, I fear for my health and safety,” he told MMA Fighting. “Somebody’s going to get hurt, and it’s probably going to be me this time.

”People don’t realize what they do when they talk about these things. But that’s the hard reality of this sport.”

Sethi was hired by the New York State Athletic Commission – on which he serves as the commission’s chief medical officer – to oversee the “BMF” title bout this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden. He said he’s worked for the commission “for a while” as a cageside doctor.

Between the third and fourth rounds of the pay-per-view headliner, Sethi advised referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the bout, which awarded Jorge Masvidal a third-round TKO victory over Nate Diaz. Diaz had suffered a massive cut over his right eye and a slightly smaller cut under it.

Fans immediately jeered the decision, prompting a testy response from Masvidal and a promise from he and Diaz that they would fight again. UFC President Dana White later hedged on that idea, saying he agreed with Sethi’s call to stop the fight.

Sethi declined to discuss the medical basis for his decision, saying it would be personally and professionally unethical for him to discuss a patient’s condition publicly. But he defended his choice as a necessary answer to an imminent concern for Diaz’s health and safety.

”I made an objective call based on my assessment of the fighter,” he said. “Not just the cut, but the overall assessment of the fighter (and) how the fight was going. Once I felt I could not guarantee the health and safety going forward, I had to make a tough call.

”The moment I lose my objectivity and I’m concerned how my actions are viewed by the UFC, by the fans, by the media, then I cease to be a ringside physician, and I cease to be doing my job. I have to be objective, and objectively, you make a call.”

Sethi added that referee Miragliotta had expressed concerns about Diaz to the commission following the second frame, but he decided to give the fighter one more round.

”Going forward off that third round, I could not guarantee his health and safety,” he said. “When in doubt, you have to do what you have to do to protect the athlete’s safety. His health and safety comes first. Every action of mine has to be viewed with that foremost in everybody’s mind, but that doesn’t happen.”

The doctor takes no issue with those who disagree with his decision. He said he welcomes feedback from fans and media who may think he stopped it too early or too late. It’s when the criticism escalates to physical threats and harassment that he believes the sport devolves into barbarism.

”It’s a shame that’s what it boils down to,” he said. “Anybody who’s involved in that sport should be hanging their head in shame when that happens. That’s not how sports are done. I’ve never experienced that, and I’ve been involved in a lot of sports.”

Sethi partly blames the reaction he received on the UFC, which he said made things worse by calling attention to his decision. UFC commentator Joe Rogan said it was “very, very usual for a doctor to stop a fight for a cut like that” in a post-fight interview with Diaz.

”You have a very, very charged crowd, and you just make it more charged,” he said. “I was walking back [from the cage] and people from the top were yelling at me, ‘f*ck this, f*ck that.’”

At the post-fight press conference, Diaz implied that Sethi had tricked him by saying everything was OK after a check of his cuts. Sethi declined to address that claim, again citing professional standards of behavior for medical professionals.

”I can only defend my medical decision making process,” he said. “I have the highest respect for Mr. Diaz, and he’s a fighter who never quits, and he certainly would have not quit and would have liked to continue, and he did say that to me in the cage. I can appreciate that.

”Everybody has a different threshold of stopping a fight. A fan (or) a referee or the media might have a different threshold. A doctor has a different threshold of stopping a fight, and in the end, if a doctor’s there, you need to respect the threshold.”

The backlash hasn’t necessarily discouraged Sethi from working for the commission in the future but he said the message sent to other doctors is clear.

”After what happened to me, let me tell you one thing: The only thing sad about this will be you’ll have doctors who will now be very afraid to make calls,” he said. “And when people are scared to make calls because they’re so afraid of the repercussions, I think we’re entering dangerous territory.”
The american culture blows. Bunch of disconnected, heartless nancies who see life as a game and other human beings as mere avatars in that game
 

Enock-O-Lypse Now!

Underneath Denver International Airport
Jun 19, 2016
11,737
19,619
Everyone wanted the fight to go on but let’s be real here, that cut was bad ...

Rewatch the 3rd Round and count how many times Nate is seen trying to wipe the blood from his eye ..


As a long time fan who actually purchased this event I had no problems with the Docs decision...it sucks because I wanted to see if Nate could dig deep and mount a comeback in the 4th and 5th but it didn’t work out.


Sad the Doc is getting harassed by keyboard warriors.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
56,268
Everyone wanted the fight to go on but let’s be real here, that cut was bad ...

Rewatch the 3rd Round and count how many times Nate is seen trying to wipe the blood from his eye ..


As a long time fan who actually purchased this event I had no problems with the Docs decision...it sucks because I wanted to see if Nate could dig deep and mount a comeback in the 4th and 5th but it didn’t work out.


Sad the Doc is getting harassed by keyboard warriors.
Pretty much this. Going into the 4th Nate's only hope was a hail Mary finish that looked unlikely at best.

People pretending that this decision is some sort of robbery from Nate is absurd.
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,237
I don't think this is being helped by the spastics in the MMA media peddling the 'early stoppage' narrative. That was a really bad cut above his eye.

People have short memories. I have heard the line 'they wouldn't have stopped it in Vegas' but it's ridiculous to say that with any certainty. Have people already forgotten Margaret Goodman? She used to stop fights all the time for way less than this.

Being a doctor doesn't make you immune from making bad decisions - like starting an MMA forum - but chances are the doctor knows a lot more than random dipshits on the internet.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
56,268
I don't think this is being helped by the spastics in the MMA media peddling the 'early stoppage' narrative. That was a really bad cut above his eye.

People have short memories. I have heard the line 'they wouldn't have stopped it in Vegas' but it's ridiculous to say that with any certainty. Have people already forgotten Margaret Goodman? She used to stop fights all the time for way less this.

Being a doctor make you immune from making bad decisions - like starting an MMA forum - but chances are the doctor knows a lot more than random dipshits on the internet.
I was really hoping you were going to say something about you monocle falling into your champagne glass.
 

SC MMA MD

TMMAC Addict
Jan 20, 2015
5,715
10,841
Thoughts on his thoughts, SC MMA MD @SC MMA MD ?
It sucks that he is getting threats etc- people are crazy.
It was certainly not an unreasonable stoppage, and the fight doctors I have spoken to about it are split but lean towards stopping the fight. For what it is worth, I don’t think I would have stopped the fight at that time (I let Matt Wiman continue with a similar cut over the other eye), but there is no way to know for sure without being there and being able to actually see Nate at the time.

I do know that Dr. Sethi has good experience as a fight MD, and he is the Chief medical officer for the NYAC.

Interestingly- after my call to let the Wiman fight continue I spoke to quite a few officials because there was some concern that I should have stopped it. An experienced official told me not only did I make the right call, but he thought that if I had stopped it most people would have thought that I made a really bad call and stopped it too early. Looks like he was prophetic.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
56,268
It sucks that he is getting threats etc- people are crazy.
It was certainly not an unreasonable stoppage, and the fight doctors I have spoken to about it are split but lean towards stopping the fight. For what it is worth, I don’t think I would have stopped the fight at that time (I let Matt Wiman continue with a similar cut over the other eye), but there is no way to know for sure without being there and being able to actually see Nate at the time.

I do know that Dr. Sethi has good experience as a fight MD, and he is the Chief medical officer for the NYAC.

Interestingly- after my call to let the Wiman fight continue I spoke to quite a few officials because there was some concern that I should have stopped it. An experienced official told me not only did I make the right call, but he thought that if I had stopped it most people would have thought that I made a really bad call and stopped it too early. Looks like he was prophetic.
Have you considered making the calls in a really arbitray fashion as to disaude people from questioning them?
 

KWingJitsu

ยาเม็ดสีแดงหรือสีฟ้ายา?
Nov 15, 2015
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If the fight had continued we would have had the first eyebrow detachment in MMA.
I hated the call at first then looked at the flapping eyebrow later and had to agree.
 

Onetrickpony

Stay gold
Nov 21, 2016
14,042
32,308
lotta people lost huge bets

I was fine with the stoppage...those cuts were gonna get bigger and haggard if he pushed into the counterstrike combos from jorge

Not a good situation for the doc, probably underpaid for the hate he will be dealing with

his face was like a softball afterwards...I don't wanna see cuts in a full circle around the dudes eyes
min ambivalent towards the stop, would’ve liked to see the last two but I don’t think anything would have changed.

that being said, they let him finish his last fight with the same cut.

 

BenAskrensStrikingcoach

Formerly formulating formally
Jan 30, 2015
4,753
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min ambivalent towards the stop, would’ve liked to see the last two but I don’t think anything would have changed.

that being said, they let him finish his last fight with the same cut.

He was live in the Pettis fight, he wasn't defending himself properly here.

Whens the next time the doc gets to see that cut?

When hes peeling the eyebrow off the canvas after Mas punches it off Diaz face.
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
72,781
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they let tyson fury fight with an axe wound packed with vaseline. they could have let nate continue on. it wouldnt have changed the outcome though. new york just sucks . i dont know why they act like MSG is the be all and end all to combat sports when they manage to fuck up every event that has ever been held there. all big fights should be in vegas where the doctors are bought and paid for and know what is up
 

so long

Posting Machine
Dec 16, 2015
1,282
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the cut didn't really seem to impede his vision, no?
it was not one of those cuts on the the forehead which bleeds into the eyes.
also it was not a cut on the eyelid or something like like.
 

D241

Banned
Jan 14, 2015
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“Not just the cut, but the overall assessment of the fighter (and) how the fight was going. Once I felt I could not guarantee the health and safety going forward, I had to make a tough call."

My issue is it should be cut and dry. It should play ZERO EMPHASIS on how the fight was going prior to a doctor examining an eye. If Nate Diaz was up three 10-8 rounds but eye was in the same condition, seems like the doctor would have acknowledged "how the fight was going" and let Nate continue. First off, judges absolutely suck and shouldn't be involved in determining an outcome of two other people, but even so, that's the judges job to determine if one fighter established enough momentum to be a decision winner. The doctor's job should be fighter's safety and not take into consideration a fighter's chances of winning if the fight is continued.

What's subjective is a fighter's chances of winning, regardless of how a fight plays out. Could Nate have been damaged worse? Sure. He could have had a leg kick checked and broke his leg, but that's the fight game. Could Nate have mounted a come from behind victory in the 4th and or 55th round? Anderson Silva vs Chael 1, Tim Boetsch vs Yushin Okami, Cheick Kongo vs Pat Barry, Mike Russow vs Todd Barry would all suggest there DEFINITELY WAS A CHANCE.

We are robbed of having certainty and the problem is inconsistency. Nate's teammate Gilbert/Giblert Melendez was in a bloody war against Diego Sanchez and Diego was considerably cut and bleeding worse than Nate, but the fight wasn't stopped. Another difference in that fight is although I had Diego losing, Diego wasn't losing as bad as Nate appeared to be losing to Jorge and perhaps that was the difference in the doctor making the call, and if that was the difference, what an absolute tragedy.


I just want to add I had thought Jorge was going to win but if you asked me who I wanted to win, my answer before and after the fight was/is=I just want there to be a clear and decisive finish so I know who truly is the better fighter out of these two. I am not happy with the result despite the guy I thought would win won.