UFC fight canceled at last minute, Anderson Silva's record broken, Floyd Mayweather fires referee: MMA News Roundup
Saturday's UFC Vegas 96 saw several records made and broken, one previously held by Anderson Silva among them. Elsewhere, Floyd Mayweather demanded the referee to be swapped for his rematch with John Gotti III.
Stay updated with the combat sports world with Sportskeeda MMA's News Roundup.
One UFC Vegas 96 fight got canceled at the 11th hour
Nathan Fletcher was set to make his promotional debut at UFC Vegas 96 after previously getting eliminated from The Ultimate Fighter. He lost a decision against Kaan Ofli and also broke his fibula in the fight. Fortunately, he didn't need surgery.
However, he was forced out of the featherweight fight against Zygimantas Ramaska at the last minute due to a medical issue. No further detail on the nature of the health condition has been made public at the time of writing this article.
Fletcher was announced as a late surprise addition to the card after receiving a second chance. The fight has been rescheduled for UFC Vegas 97 on Sep. 7, as per the live broadcast.
Gerald Meerschaert breaks Anderson Silva's record
Gerald Meerschaert submitted Edmen Shahbazyan in the second round at UFC Vegas 96 with an arm triangle choke. With the victory, he took his number of stoppage wins in the promotion to 12 and broke Anderson Silva's record for most finishes in UFC middleweight history.
He also tied Damian Maia for third-most submissions in the promotion's history, just behind Charles Oliveira (16) and Jim Miller (12). Dricus du Plessis, Gilbert Burns, Belal Muhammad, Henry Cehjudo and Ben Askren were among the MMA entities who congratulated Meerschaert on his incredible feat.
Read the reactions here.
Saturday night's Fight Night card at Apex saw several other records created. China's Wang Cong earned the second-fastest finish in women's flyweight weight class and also the fastest debut finish in the division's history. Caio Borralho, with his main event win over Jared Cannonier, now has the second-longest active win streak in the middleweight division behind the champion, du Plessis.
Floyd Mayweather fires referee mid-fight
Floyd Mayweather's rematch with John Gotti III didn't feature any of the controversies of the first fight. Instead of an all-out brawl, this time, it saw the referee getting swapped in the middle of the fight.
The first referee, after a complaint from Gotti about a back-of-the-head shot or 'rabbit punches', paused the fight. This seemed to anger Mayweather, who then demanded the backup referee be put in charge.
Check out the bizarre sequence below:
Fans found the matter ridiculous and compared it with WWE, among other things.