UFC pulls fighter's flag before walkout, Chris Weidman fight result changes after eye poke review, Tim Tszyu loses bloodbath battle: MMA News Roundup
A fighter was asked not to walk out with his flag ahead of his UFC Atlantic City fight. Elsewhere, Tim Tszyu lost his title to Sebastian Fundora.
Here are the top stories that happened in the world of combat sports today.
UFC pulled Dennis Buzukja's flag
Dennis Buzukja was denied the opportunity to walk out with the flag of his choice. Born and brought up in the U.S.A., Buzukja is of Albanian origin and wanted to pay tribute to his heritage during the walkout.
However, because of certain design restraints on his flag, Buzukja was not allowed to do so despite the flag ban no longer being in place in the UFC.
In the post-fight interview, he told the reporters:
"It's crazy. Right before I was going to walk out, they came and told me I can't walk out with my flag because it had gold trim on it... I was like, 'You're going to get me crucified by the Albanian people.'"
Buzukja was seen with a similar type of flag in question at weigh-ins of a previous fight.
The appearance at Atlantic City was his third outing and first win in the UFC. He secured a TKO win over Connor Matthews in the third round.
Chris Weidman's TKO gets changed in eye poke review
Chris Weidman won his first fight in four years at UFC Atlantic City. Unfortunately, his victory was plagued with controversy stemming from illegal moves.
Despite landing several eye pokes in the fight that were visible to the fans, Weidman initially won the fight via TKO. Upon further review by the UFC officials, it was ruled a unanimous decision.
The call was perplexing for fellow fighters and fans, as MMA rules state that if an eye poke renders a fighter unable to continue, it is declared a no-contest. If it is deemed intentional, the one committing the foul can even lose the bout via disqualification.
Read the full report here.
Tim Tszyu suffers a loss and a ghastly injury on the head
Tim Tszyu not only lost his belt to Sebastian Fundora at T-Mobile Arena but also sustained a nasty head injury.
While the Australian suffered his first defeat in 25 fights and surrendered his WBO super welterweight and vacant WBC straps, the talking point of the evening was the hole in his head.
An accidental elbow by Fundora split open the skin on the top of Tszyu's head, which left fans squirming.
Check out the state of Tszyu's head here. [GRAPHIC WARNING]
Boxing social media rallied for the fight to be stopped and declared a no-contest, but it went on and resulted in a split decision win for Fundora.