Referee Herb Dean has publicly defended his decision to rule Adriano Moraes’ win over Phumi Nkuta a technical submission at MVP MMA 1 this past Saturday.
Moraes and Nkuta met in a 130-pound catchweight bout on the preliminary card at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., in an event streamed live on Netflix. Nkuta had won the first two rounds on two of the judges' scorecards going into Round 3 before Moraes locked in a rear-naked choke in the final seconds, rendering Nkuta unconscious.
After cageside review, Dean and officials overturned what would have been a decision win for Nkuta and instead ruled the bout a technical submission for Moraes. "First of all, I'm certain that the right decision was made," Dean said while breaking down the sequence.
Dean explained his view of the finish: "What I saw was towards the end, he got caught in a rear-naked choke. He was on with a palm-to-palm grip, and I believe it was after the clapper, the 10-second clapper, it was right at the end, man, he was giving it everything he's got because it was his opportunity. When I stopped the match, there was a fraction of a second where he held onto the choke. Because of that, I wasn't exactly sure. I wanted to make sure I saw what happened and when things happened, so I went and looked at the replay."
The controversial ending generated online debate, but Dean stated he is "definitely sure" Nkuta went unconscious before the bell and reiterated that he believes the call was correct.
