Russian fighter Adam Bogatyrev commented on on the referee’s work in the title fight between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event of UFC 304.
Aspinall defended his interim UFC title belt by finishing his fight with Curtis Blaydes in less than a minute. The Briton first shocked Blaydes with a head kick while he was standing, and when he began to finish off his opponent on the ground, the referee stopped the fight. Russia’s Adam Bogatyrev will face Evgeny Goncharov at ACA 178 for the heavyweight title.
— Do you agree that Tom Aspinall has a faster speed than the average heavyweight?
“I wouldn’t say he has unusual speed for a heavyweight. He just fought guys who seemed to be hitting in slow motion. How fast did he fight? Now, if he’s fighting Cyril Gan, then we can draw conclusions about his speed. And only if he’s not fighting Gan. Even if you look at the minute they had in the Blaydes fight, yes, he was moving, even though that’s not his thing. It’s like he just read somewhere that you have to move in a fight. But during that time, he missed two deuces, despite his movement. They were two good close deuces from Blaydes that he didn’t seem to want to hit.
– What do you think about stopping this fight?
– On the one hand, I did not see that Curtis was in a situation where the referee had to stop the fight, as they say, groggy, and Aspinall’s position was not fully occupied. And this is my opinion, in the fight for the title, even if it is a temporary title, it was necessary to give chances. Curtis probably still has something to say. At the same time, if you are a referee, you are inside the cage, you bear responsibility for it and you know it better than anyone else. In addition, the health of the athlete is more important. I was not there, but from the outside it seemed that a chance could be given.
“The feeling is that if you’re a little shaken up, you have to, keeping in mind the rules of MMA, show the referee with all your appearance that you don’t want the fight stopped. But Curtis Blaydes, on the contrary, showed that he was not ready to fight.
– Yes! I was criticized more than once for my words addressed to Curtis Blaydes, when I said that he seemed to be “not friends with the stinking guy”, after the missed blow he immediately did not want to be there, he turned away and hid his face. And it was just a call for the referee to conclude: if he does not want to be here, why should I give him the opportunity to be here. This happened to Blaydes in several fights, this is not the first time for him, “Bogatyrev told .
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I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
