Be it an early stoppage or a late one, the sport of MMA will always have its ‘ups and downs’ and ‘in and outs’, and here’s another story for you to judge.
During the latest Desert Force which took place in Beirut, a light heavyweight bout pitting Elias Baaklini against Mostafa Rashed, showcased a two sided comeback from both fighters that left the crowds entertained. Yet the inconsistency of the stoppages that night left some of the fighters and fans confused, including Mostafa Rashed himself, the winner of that fight.
Mostafa Rashed:
“After he [Elias Baaklini] took me down, I managed to sweep him and land some good elbows and hammer fists. He was not facing me so I thought the fight was about to end. I put all my power in those strikes. But MashaAllah my opponent wouldn’t give up, as if he didn’t care about the pounding. I kept at it for a minute straight without a single sign from him. Somehow the referee wouldn’t stop the fight, and I don’t understand why he kept it going”.
If you watch the fight video below, you can spot Baaklini turn away from Rashed in what looked like giving up. Regardless, the fact that he came back and almost ended the fight himself, being on the receiving end of over 20 unanswered strikes would have ended the fight 9 times out of 10. This is the beauty of MMA and that’s why we love it… or maybe not ?
“The referee should have stopped the fight early in the round, but Al hamdulilah. If I lost I would’ve certainly contested the decision, but let’s keep it at that. I will not comment on the details of why I think the referee let this fight going”.
These few words from the Saudi/ Egyptian fighter who now rides a 3 win streak makes us wonder why some fights end early and other fighters take a much unnecessary beating before getting saved by the referee.
It is difficult to see all angles of a fight even when inside the cage, but the question of inconsistency among referees is something that has been coming up more as time goes on.
What do you guys think? Do you have any possible explanations you would like to share? Let us know.
Guys ghattas is a very very bad ref… He I’d actually dangerous for fighters health and shoupndt ref anymore. But they keep him probably because he is cheap
Remember the late stoppage for jarjis last opponent? The Hani chehimi Ein? It’s all fixed man
The simple answer would be “Because the fight was in Lebanon 🙂 ”
Yazan Ghattas wanted Elias to be the winner, to please the lebanese crowd
unfortunately, he tapped 🙂
It is crystal clear that at a point Elias didn’t react upon the chain of punches & elbows , he even could only escape when Mostafa mountained him to get some rest so could flip .
The refree must have stopped the fight but he wasn’t equilateral.