The first heavyweight fight of the night disappointed fans expecting a huge heavyweight knockout.
The bout featured the fan-favorite Chris Barnett facing the UFC newcomer Mardin Buday.
The upcoming bout looked promising as Barnett entered with his trademark dance moves.
Chris Barnett has no right being this smooth with the dance moves. 🕺🏼 #UFCVegas51 #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/QPrLmyXg4n
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) April 16, 2022
The bout did not live up to the expectations to what is expected of a Heavyweight MMA bout. The two fighters had a slow-paced contest that was looking to be on its way to a unanimous decision victory for Buday.
https://twitter.com/FTB_VIDS/status/1515465134419824641?s=20&t=Bq8SpuqvHCzXMB6oGE9J5Q
However, in the third round, Buday landed a heavy elbow right to the back of Barnett’s head.
Anticlimactic ending, too bad pic.twitter.com/U03hcrFGbT
— calfkicker (@calfkickercom) April 17, 2022
The referee stopped the fight on the spot, and the shot seemed to have heavily affected Barnett. As the doctor entered the cage to examine if Chris Barnett was good enough to continue.
After failing the medical test, the doctor told the referee that the fighter had no condition to continue. Much to Barnett’s protest, the referee called the fight.
At the time, everyone was having Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling 1 flashbacks. However, the referee Dan Miragliota decided that the elbow was not intentionally thrown to the back of Barnett’s head.
As the fight-ending strike was judged “unintentional”, the MMA rules state that the bout should be awarded a “disqualification” for the victim of the foul, instead, the judges will score the entirety of the bout.
Some fans disagreed with the referee’s decision, arguing that in fact Buday’s, arguing that even if the foul was unintentional, Dan Miragliota should have deducted a point for the decision.