UFC/ Bellator veteran Maiquel Falcao brutalized with late stoppage in Russia

Brazilian middleweight Maiquel Falcao, who you’ll remember as a member of the UFC and Bellator rosters – and for his infamous gas station brawl – recently had a very bad night in Russia. He was visiting the port city of Vladivostok for a Fight Nights Global scrap with Vladimir Mineev. To say it didn’t go his way would be an understatement.

In this fight, Falcao became the latest victim of referee ineptitude. After being hurt by a punch mid-way through the first round, he hit the mat, where a grappling exchange began. As this grappling exchange progressed, Mineev began to rattle his foe with crackling ground strikes, which eventually caused Falcao to turtle up in clear discomfort. While the Brazilian was clearly teetering on the edge of consciousness, however, the referee decided to let the Russian fighter pour on the ground and pound for as long as possible. By the time this terrible referee finally stepped in to stop the fight, Falcao had already eaten many unnecessary strikes. See the fight – and this ugly stoppage – at the top of this post.

This fight was a rematch of a December 2016 fight, which Falcao won with a controversial majority decision. Needless to say, Mineev made sure the outcome was much clearer in this do-over.

With this outcome, Falcao returns to the loss column after two straight wins. The 36-year-old is now 37-9 overall.

Mineev, meanwhile, has now rebounded from the lone loss of his career – the aforementioned decision loss to Falcao. Currently 9-1 overall, the 27-year-old Yekaterinburg native is one of the hottest prospects on the rise in Russia.

What do you think of this glaring referee oversight in Russia? Should Vladimir Mineev have been pulled off the dazed Maiquel Falcao earlier in the fight? Make your voice heard in the comments section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/21/2017.