"He was starting to move again" - Aljamain Sterling weighs in on UFC 295 controversy surrounding Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira stoppage
Former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling has shared his thoughts on the controversial ending that took place at UFC 295 in the main event title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira.
Sterling uploaded a clip from his Weekly Scraps podcast to his Twitter account that featured 'Funk Master' discussing the ending to the main event. Sterling argued that Prochazka was indeed knocked out by Pereira in the fight but regained consciousness quickly.
The former champion added that although Prochazka did recover from the knockout, it does not necessarily mean that 'Denisa' was fully aware of his surroundings:
"He was out... but then he came back, in that mount position. But just because he came back doesn't mean he was actually with it."
In the caption of his post, Sterling added that referee Marc Goddard could have possibly waited for one more strike to land before stopping the fight. But 'Funk Master' concluded by saying that he would not count Goddard's actions as a bad stoppage:
"I still think because Jiri 'came back' that you could’ve waited for 1 more strike to land before stopping it, just for good measure because Jiri was already starting to move again. But to me this wasnt an awful stoppage by any means, in my book at least."
The main event stoppage became one of the main talking points of UFC 295. Several fighters, including Merab Dvalishvili and Lando Vannata, criticized Goddard, accusing him of halting the fight prematurely.
Jiri Prochazka clears the air on controversial stoppage at UFC 295
Several fighters and fans have opined on whether the light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira could have gone a little bit longer at UFC 295.
'Denisa' took to social media to issue his response to the controversy. In a video uploaded to his Instagram account, Prochazka said that although things might have turned out differently if the fight lasted a few seconds longer, referee Marc Goddard did the right thing by intervening when he did:
"This is for me just motivation... Marc Goddard was right. Maybe two or three seconds and it would be a different way, but what happened happened... Watch me now. I'll be back stronger than ever. Thank you for the support."