Jose Aldo And Dana White Insist Late Punches After The Bell Weren’t Intentional
After UFC 179’s main event started quickly, with both fighters trading shots and rocking one another, the first round was coming to a close. In the final few seconds, Aldo backed Mendes against the cage and landed a jab that seemingly stunned Mendes, then the round ended and Aldo landed a jab-cross combination that sent Mendes to the mat. On TV what fans saw was an incredibly dirty move that left many viewers with a bad taste in their mouth going into the second round.
UFC President Dana White, and UFC featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo both painted a very different, but understandable scenario for the late punches.
White spoke to MMAJunkie about the situation.
“After that first round, a couple people came over and started saying, ‘He hit him with two punches after the bell. That was late.’ I didn’t hear anything. It was so loud in that arena, I didn’t hear it. It didn’t look like the referee heard it.”
“I guess on TV, it looked really dirty, like real deliberate punches after the bell. I was in that arena, and I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear the bell. I didn’t hear anything. Maybe some people did, maybe some people didn’t, but I didn’t.
“I don’t think it was deliberate, not to mention that normally the referee is right there when the bell rings to break it up in case that would happen. I don’t think he heard it either. So that’s my two cents.”
Aldo spoke at the post-fight press conference when asked about the incident.
“It was like deja vu. When it was about to end right there, I thought I had already won the fight. So I landed two punches, and the ref got in front of me, and I thought I had won, but the round was over.
“I heard the crowd. Everyone was screaming, and I thought I was going to be able to run into the crowd again, but they put me back in, and we had to restart the fight.”
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