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Ilir Latifi sågar domarna – ”De rånade mig på vinsten”

Ilir Latifi besviken över förlust

Vid UFC 247 förra helgens valde svenske Ilir Latifi att gå upp till tungvikt där han mötte tidigare titelutmanaren Derrick Lewis. Trots att han gjorde en bra match blev det dock till slut förlust via enhälligt domslut mot hemmafavoriten.

Latifi säger nu till MMA Fighting att domarna hade helt fel i sin bedömning och anser att de favoriserade Lewis:

To be honest, I know I was on his home turf. I’m coming from Sweden. I’m coming to the U.S. I’m coming to Houston. I’m fighting the hometown pride, Derrick Lewis, who is one of the most favorite fighters in the UFC. I like him, too. He’s funny as hell. He’s humble. Nothing to take from that but I knew that I wasn’t fighting just Derrick.

I was fighting the judges. I was fighting everybody in that arena that night. When I came there, I knew what it was. When the fight was over, you saw Derrick’s face. He knew that he lost that fight.

Latifi fortsatte med att förklara varför han själv förtjänade segern:

If you see it this way, I controlled my opponent for 15 minutes. I practically put him in the situation I wanted. I put him against the cage. I was grinding him and making him tired, taking out those power shots. I took him down.

He threw some fancy knees and some kicks but I blocked everything and I saw everything. I felt very, very comfortable. He didn’t catch me with nothing. It was maybe one punch but I saw everything. I blocked it and I took it with no problem. Not taking credit from Derrick, for being such a heavy guy, doing that stuff is impressive but I think I had total control of the fight. To be honest, I controlled a 270-pound opponent with ease. Most people can’t control their puppy dog for like a minute. That’s the truth. You maybe don’t like it, but that’s what I did.

Anser att det måste bli konsekvenser för domarna

Latifi är inte den enda fightern som ansåg sig orättvist behandlad av poängdomarna vid UFC 247. Flera fighters som Jonathan Martinez och Dominick Reyes, som kunde blivit ny UFC-mästare i lätt-tungvikt, ansåg att domarna dömt felaktigt.

Latifi anser att domarna nu borde straffas för sina misslyckanden:

I wasn’t shocked that they robbed me. It’s so sad to see that they do that. Because this is the future of the sport. They’re playing around with athletes, fighters’ lives that put everything on the line. We sacrifice so much. We sacrifice our health. We leave our families. We do so much and to leave that in the hands of the judges or a commission that doesn’t understand the sport or favors somebody, that’s wrong. There should be consequences for that, too.

When fighters do wrong or they break the rules, they get punished for that. But when judges do wrong or rob people from their fights, there’s no consequences for that. It’s bad. It affects the fighters. People can say ‘on to the next one, you did a great fight’ but in a way f*ck that. I did everything for that fight. I came in as a big underdog. I think honestly the judges and everybody there didn’t think I’d last a minute and I came in and dominated him. It wasn’t maybe the way they thought but that’s the truth.

Bad judgment or judges who were sleeping at the fight or they just want to mess with the scores or favor him, they f*ck with people’s paychecks. That’s 50 percent of what you get paid. It’s not a game. It’s so bad.

UFC:s VD Dana White gick även han ut efter UFC 247 med att domarnas insats var oacceptabel. Latifi fick även stöd av fansen efter förlusten.

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Ralph Nordahl

Ralph Nordahl, musiker och kuriosamaskin, gillar att grotta ner sig i nya saker. Har jobbat inom spridda branscher. Gillar helst att skriva, läsa och sjunga. MMA-fan sedan 2017. Har skrivit närmare 4800 artiklar om MMA sedan dess.

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