Carlos Lozoya, the fighter to almost beat Sean O'Malley, looks back on the unfortunate DQ loss - "I just didn't know the rules" (Exclusive)
Carlos Lozoya may not be a household name, but he came extremely close to beating one of the most popular rising stars in the UFC today, Sean O'Malley.
He crossed paths with a young O'Malley during an amateur MMA bout under the Fusion Fight League banner in 2014, in which Lozoya almost secured a victory.
However, Lozoya made an unfortunate mistake in the final moments of the bout where he hit his opponent in the temple area, close to the back of the head. That got O’Malley a win via disqualification on a silver platter in a fight he was surely losing.
Looking back at the fight during an interview with Andrew Whitelaw of Sportskeeda MMA, Lozoya said:
"You know, it was a good fight and we made it to the fifth round and I was on top and I was ground-and-pounding him. And then he [Sean O'Malley] turned and I hit him like in the ear, but he started holding the back of his head and he starts screaming, 'The back of my head! The back of my head!' And then the ref stopped it and O'Malley couldn't continue anymore so I got disqualified."
Check out our exclusive interview with Carlos Lozoya:
Lozoya admitted that he wasn't very well-versed in the rules of MMA. And while he suggested that O'Malley may have employed some acting skills, he did admit to hitting O'Malley in the back of the head earlier in the fight:
"But to be fair on the ref and on [Sean O'Malley], earlier in the fight, I did hit him in the back of the head just because I didn't know the rules... I just didn't know the rules. I didn't know you can't hit people in the back of the head. But early in the fight I did hit him in the back of the head and the ref was like, 'Woah, woah, woah, woah!' I was like, 'What? What's going on?'”
Watch the full Carlos Lozoya vs. Sean O'Malley bout:
Why did fans give Sean O'Malley grief over the DQ win
Back then, Sean O'Malley wasn't quite the elite striker that he is today. His defensive wrestling was also lacking, which allowed Carlos Lozoya – a former collegiate wrestler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner – to dictate where the fight took place.
Lozoya exploited that hole in O'Malley's game for nearly five rounds. He repeatedly took 'Sugar' down with ease and peppered him with ground-and-pound once they got to the ground.
Moments away from his first amateur victory as he pummeled away at O'Malley, Lozoya landed a seemingly illegal strike. O'Malley immediately started complaining, and the referee stopped the fight. Despite the lopsidedness of the affair, O'Malley was declared the winner via disqualification
Check out the tweet below:
In a 2014 amateur fight, Sean O’Malley beat Carlos Lozoya via disqualification when he was ‘struck in the back of the head’ https://t.co/x513O3D8I3
O'Malley's detractors have been highly critical of the decision, believing 'Sugar' saw a cowardly way out of the defeat and took it. UFC fans on Twitter gave O'Malley grief, especially because he accused Pedro Munhoz of doing the same thing during his last outing.