The main card opening fight for UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Muhammad ended in controversy in Las Vegas. Chiefly, UFC middleweights Eryk Anders and Darren Stewart met in the middle of the cage, however, there was no clear winner.
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The fight ended in a ‘No Decision, due to an illegal blow’ as Anders landed an illegal knee. This mirrored the events of last week’s UFC pay-per-view event’s bantamweight title fight.
UFC 259 saw a title change hands for the first time via DQ as bantamweight champion Petr Yan lost out to Aljamain Sterling. ‘No Mercy’ landed an illegal knee flush to a downed opponent, and this led to the fight ending in a disqualification. Similar events played out at UFC Vegas 21 when Darren ‘The Dentist’ ate a knee from Anders while he was grounded.
The #UFCVegas21 bout between Eryk Anders and Darren Stewart has been declared a "No Decision, due to an illegal blow."
The bout was called a No Contest instead of a DQ, as the fight didn’t even make it out of the first round. Not to mention, the illegal knee thrown by Stewart was deemed unintentional. This wasn’t the case when looking at UFC 259’s bantamweight title fight, where Yan’s knee was considered intentional.
UFC stars react as back-to-back events suffer an illegal knee shut-out
Stars of the UFC roster showed out in full force to comment on the events that unfolded on the main card opener. Star-studded fighters like Stephen Thompson, Kevin Holland, and Gilbert Burns gave their instant reaction to Eryk Anders’ illegal knee.
Chiefly, the blow immediately drew parallels to last week’s debacle, and understandably so. It’s hard to conceive that a flagrant foul via illegal knee could take place two weeks in a row on the biggest stage on the main card.
That was nothing compared to the blast @funkmasterMMA received. #UFCVegas21
YOU CANT KNEE SOMEONE IN THE HEAD WHEN THEY ARE DOWN
Dude! Did we somehow forget what it means to be a grounded opponent!
No contest ? Or Dq? Oh shit now I’m confused! But it was ilegal knee! #UFCVegas21
Same illegal strike but no extra show 🤥
I don’t understand what’s going on out there... 🤨 #UFCVegas21
Additionally, media members also chimed in on the aforementioned situation that’s become a recurring feature in MMA. There seems to be an over-arching frustration with fighters who aren’t able to follow through on the rule-set during combat.
Nobody knows the rules 😂
Here we go again.
Jesus. Another downed knee.
TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter echoed the sentiments felt by fight fans regarding the rules throughout the last week. Chiefly, there’s been plenty of discussion about the number of regulations in MMA. Moreover, this has led to a discussion as to whether the implementation of said rules is viable on the biggest stage.
There is way too much grey area in this sport sometimes.
New MMA rules. Beat the hell out of guy then knee him when he's down. 🤦♂️
No-contest? What? #UFCVegas21
What did you make of the fight-ending sequence?
