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Disqualification is an unpopular ending in the UFC as it is in all sports. No one wants to see a fight end on a DQ. Not only has the winner not truly beaten the loser but the fight overall is sullied.
It leaves a frustrating blemish on the records of its fighters. For the victor, it’s a win that they didn’t earn on their own merit. For the loser, it’s a loss they know they could’ve been avoided.
Curiously, there have been times where rule-bending fighters have managed to sidestep getting disqualified. Arguably even worse are the times where fighters suffer the DQ without truly deserving it. Let's take a look at two such UFC fighters for each of these scenarios.
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#2. Deserved to be DQ’d but wasn't: Eddie Alvarez at UFC 211
Officially, former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez’s UFC 211 showdown with Dustin Poirier is a no-contest. The NC result is on account of Alvarez’s illegal knee strikes towards the end of round two. After sustaining several hard shots from Poirier early on, Alvarez managed to rally with a takedown on ‘The Diamond’ near the cage.
Looking to be firmly in control, Alvarez shocked everyone watching as he nailed Poirier with several illegal knee strikes. Unlike Aljamain Sterling’s DQ win over Petr Yan for the UFC bantamweight title earlier this year, however, Alvarez was not disqualified. Instead, referee Herb Dean ruled the bout a no contest. The downed Poirier was clearly knocked out by the rule-breaking shots but was denied the DQ win most believed he should’ve been given.
Bizarrely, Dean labeled the ferocious knee shots unintentional in one of the most controversial decisions that year. Poirier later defeated Alvarez via a second-round TKO in a July 2018 rematch.
#2. Didn’t deserve to be DQ’d but was: Hector Lombard at UFC 222
Unlike the Alvarez/Poirier debacle, there actually was a sound argument for this bout to be ruled a no contest. For C.B. Dollaway, he became one of the very, very few UFC fighters to have won a fight by getting knocked out.
Hector Lombard was midway through throwing a retaliatory punch after blocking Dollaway’s kick when the bell sounded. Round one was over and Lombard’s fist was mid-flight. The shot proved devastating but past the five minute mark and thus illegal. Lombard was promptly disqualified for something that, in the heat of the moment, many fighters would’ve struggled with also.
Referee Mark Smith simply did not manage to get in between the fighters in time. While what happened to Dollaway was unfortunate, a no-contest ruling would have been fairer, all things considered. For Lombard, this remains one of the most frustrating losses of his UFC career.
#1. Deserved to be DQ’d but wasn't: Andrei Arlovski at UFC 66
Was Marcio Cruz robbed here?
Former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski was coming in with two straight losses to his name. A master striker, the explosive Arlovski found himself up against an exceptional master of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Cruz. Needless to say, 'The Pitbull' was in dire need of a win to keep his name in title contention talks.
Early into round one, Cruz shot in for what he does best: grappling on the ground. Arlovski proved too strong to succumb to a simple takedown so Cruz re-tooled and went for a leglock. A panicked Arlovski then kicked a still grounded Cruz in the face, something that should’ve been an easy DQ loss for ‘The Pitbull’.
Instead, the fight continued after Cruz demanded as such, believing he had Arlovski beat and didn’t need to take a DQ victory.
Unfortunately for ‘Pe De Pano’, Arlovski wasn’t quite done bending the rules. When Cruz went for a potentially devastating kneebar, Arlovski grabbed the fence to steady himself and avoid being fully rolled into the submission hold. Arlovski then picked up the KO win with a barrage of punches and two disqualification-worthy actions to his name.
#1. Didn’t deserve to be DQ’d but was: Jon Jones at The Ultimate Fighter 10 finale
While no one has ever truly beaten Jon Jones in the octagon, the longtime UFC light heavyweight kingpin does have a loss on his record. Just four fights into his career, a young Jon Jones took on Matt Hamill.
‘Bones’ controlled most of the round, battering Hamill. It was all going so well until Jones made the mistake of hitting his foe with some downward elbow shots. Due to downward elbows being illegal in the UFC, Jones was promptly disqualified.
The 12-6 elbow rule has often come under fire in the world of MMA. UFC president Dana White has even looked into trying to change Jones’ DQ to a no contest instead. White cited poor refereeing and issues with the Nevada State Athletic Commission as reasons Jones’ DQ should be overturned.
The referee in question, Steve Mazzagatti, has drawn the ire of Dana White several times over the years. Joe Rogan also supports the notion of the DQ being reversed. He cited the controversy surrounding the rule in the first place as the biggest issue in a tweet:
“The 12-6 elbow rule is one of the dumbest rules in combat sports. At the very least that fight should be a no contest. He was completely dominant.”
Given the state Hamill was in just prior to Jones’ overzealous elbows, some have even made the argument that 'Bones' already had the fight won. In that case, the argument could be made that Jones was essentially robbed of a TKO win, regardless of his unsportsmanlike elbow shots thereafter.
