Cutelaba: Pretending to be hurt was ‘part of the game plan’ for UFC Norfolk

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Wild

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There was a bit of controversy during one of the main card fights at UFC Norfolk on Saturday. Light heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev was awarded a first-round TKO win over Ion Cutelaba, a stoppage that was met by objection from the crowd in attendance.


View: https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1233936277680140298


Ankalaev was moving forward in the exchange with head kicks. Cutelaba remained on his feet and countering with his own shots when one of his opponents left hands connected and appeared to have hurt him.

Seeing the Moldovan fighter seemingly wobbled, the referee immediately took action to step in and stop the…


Cutelaba on controversial stoppage: Pretending to be hurt was ‘part of the game plan’
 

Sheepdog

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Not sure if you're referring to the 'gameplan' or the excuse but it's actually likely not a lie. I'm almost certain he's done the same thing before - I can't remember which fight but my alcoholic memory is sure of it.

None of the follow up shots landed, he was firmly on his feet and he was throwing back with conviction.

Remember, Anderson pulled the same stunt before legit getting KOd by Weidman. He's a weirdo and very, very dumb for doing it.
 

Robbie Hart

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Quick one:

lesson learned son, but I don’t believe you
 

Sex Chicken

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I think people automatically dismissing this, are taking “game plan” too literally. Of course it wasn’t his plan to go into the fight and take damage to set something up, but it could very easily be a scenario they talked about in camp. “If you do get hit, exaggerate how hurt you are, he has a habit of being too aggressive looking for a finish.”

Maybe they saw some Pete Sell in him. When watching tape.

Not that Smith was faking here, but Sell charges in with his guard down.
 
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sparkuri

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I think people automatically dismissing this, are taking “game plan” too literally. Of course it wasn’t his plan to go into the fight and take damage to set something up, but it could very easily be a scenario they talked about in camp. “If you do get hit, exaggerate how hurt you are and he has a habit of being too aggressive looking for a finish.”

Maybe they saw some Pete Sell in him. When watching tape.

Not that Smith was faking here, but Sell charges in with his guard down.
I was just thinking about that fight and didn't even watch UFC Norfolk.

That said, I think this is the worst stoppage I've ever seen.
 

Filthy

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Not sure if you're referring to the 'gameplan' or the excuse but it's actually likely not a lie. I'm almost certain he's done the same thing before - I can't remember which fight but my alcoholic memory is sure of it.

None of the follow up shots landed, he was firmly on his feet and he was throwing back with conviction.

Remember, Anderson pulled the same stunt before legit getting KOd by Weidman. He's a weirdo and very, very dumb for doing it.
to be clear, that was the worst stoppage since Daley/Kampmann...absolutely horrible positioning and judgement by the official. Calling a TKO in the first round, when someone hasn't even been knocked down, is almost indefensible.

That being said, if your "game plan" is to convince your opponent that you're not defending yourself intelligently, while at the same time making sure that the official knows you're intelligently defending yourself, you should definitely go over that with the official in the dressing room BEFORE the fight.

to come out after the fight and say "But I meant to" is pathetic. He's going too far in trying to make himself a blameless victim, and instead assumed culpability in the referee's error. Saying he was doing it on purpose makes Cutelaba responsible, and excuses the referee as simply a victim of Cutelaba's ruse.
 
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Filthy

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also, if he's going to be this big of a pussy about a bad call, I'm going to start referring to him as Cute-Labia.
 
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Sex Chicken @Sex Chicken said the same thing when police stepped in after his wife put him in a mounted crucifix and started raining down elbows
 

Sheepdog

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to be clear, that was the worst stoppage since Daley/Kampmann...absolutely horrible positioning and judgement by the official. Calling a TKO in the first round, when someone hasn't even been knocked down, is almost indefensible.

That being said, if your "game plan" is to convince your opponent that you're not defending yourself intelligently, while at the same time making sure that the official knows you're intelligently defending yourself, you should definitely go over that with the official in the dressing room BEFORE the fight.

to come out after the fight and say "But I meant to" is pathetic. He's going too far in trying to make himself a blameless victim, and instead assumed culpability in the referee's error. Saying he was doing it on purpose makes Cutelaba responsible, and excuses the referee as simply a victim of Cutelaba's ruse.
I don't disagree with any of that. It was a fucking ridiculous thing to do. The ref fucked up badly, but you have to sympathize a little with him. He was put in a position he shouldn't have been and Cutelaba can only blame his own stupidity.

There's a bizarre unearned faith that fighters have in refs/judges - why you would ever think you can trust them is beyond me.
 

Rambo John J

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He was hurt
He was probably acting a bit to cover being hurt

Ref fucked up, plain and simp.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

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I don't disagree with any of that. It was a fucking ridiculous thing to do. The ref fucked up badly, but you have to sympathize a little with him. He was put in a position he shouldn't have been and Cutelaba can only blame his own stupidity.

There's a bizarre unearned faith that fighters have in refs/judges - why you would ever think you can trust them is beyond me.
The ironic thing is if Cutelaba was as hurt as he was pretending that he was, and took a pile of unanswered shots people would then be complaining about him trying to get people killed.
 

Filthy

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The ironic thing is if Cutelaba was as hurt as he was pretending that he was, and took a pile of unanswered shots people would then be complaining about him trying to get people killed.
you make a good point: in real-time, I thought at least a couple head kicks found home.
You can definitely get hurt by kicks through a guard, but the replay showed he was doing a better job than I thought.

But I didn't get to choose my angle - the ref did. If he can't see what's happening, it's on him.
 

Rambo John J

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He was getting tuned the F up...that is Fact.

His opponent seems like a freaking animal.

Undefeated other than losing to Paul Craig with 1 second left lol.

Ion is possibly lucky it got stopped early, cause he was in for some real damage it seemed.

Not that that makes early stoppage OK.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

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you make a good point: in real-time, I thought at least a couple head kicks found home.
You can definitely get hurt by kicks through a guard, but the replay showed he was doing a better job than I thought.

But I didn't get to choose my angle - the ref did. If he can't see what's happening, it's on him.
It's in real time, and he doesn't have the option of going "Looks like he's taking unanswered headkicks, I better watch him take some more from another angle to be sure." Before a fighter makes the walk they're told "Defend yourself at all times." Ref didn't think he was, so he stepped in, I have a hard time blaming him. Granted, I also have 0 sympathy for Cutelaba after his pre-fight nonsense.
 

Filthy

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It's in real time, and he doesn't have the option of going "Looks like he's taking unanswered headkicks, I better watch him take some more from another angle to be sure." Before a fighter makes the walk they're told "Defend yourself at all times." Ref didn't think he was, so he stepped in, I have a hard time blaming him. Granted, I also have 0 sympathy for Cutelaba after his pre-fight nonsense.
 

Sheepdog

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It's in real time, and he doesn't have the option of going "Looks like he's taking unanswered headkicks, I better watch him take some more from another angle to be sure." Before a fighter makes the walk they're told "Defend yourself at all times." Ref didn't think he was, so he stepped in, I have a hard time blaming him. Granted, I also have 0 sympathy for Cutelaba after his pre-fight nonsense.
You can still blame him a lot. Big John McCarthy, who I'm not a fan of, criticized the shit out of the ref for that stoppage. Look at the ref literally jump in and out like a spastic as soon as the first shot landed. He panicked and was completely caught in two minds. BJM pointed out that the ref needed to look at the feet.

There's a line between having some sympathy for the ref being subjected to that situation and saying it was an ok stoppage. It was not. It was a terrible stoppage.
 

BeardOfKnowledge

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Big John McCarthy, who I'm not a fan of, criticized the shit out of the ref for that stoppage. Look at the ref literally jump in and out like a spastic as soon as the first shot landed. He panicked and was completely caught in two minds. BJM pointed out that the ref needed to look at the feet.
Who cares what the Monday morning quarterback says? When he was in an easier to deduce situation he did the same thing.

There's a line between having some sympathy for the ref being subjected to that situation and saying it was an ok stoppage. It was not. It was a terrible stoppage.
If the stoppage hadn't been facilitated by his own actions, I'd have some pity for him.
 

Sheepdog

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Who cares what the Monday morning quarterback says? When he was in an easier to deduce situation he did the same thing.



If the stoppage hadn't been facilitated by his own actions, I'd have some pity for him.
'Cowboy is a better striker than McGregor'.