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In an interesting turn of events, Jake Hager's fight with Anthony Garrett at Bellator 231 ended in a no-contest. Hager landed a low blow to the groin with his knee and Garrett could not continue. The low blow was deemed unintentional and therefore, declared a no-contest.
Were The Inner Circle there at Bellator 231?
As was reported earlier, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz were there at the event and even cut a promo before the fight started. When interviewed, Guevera cut a promo saying that Hager will prove why he is the most dominant monster in MMA. Santana said that Garrett should watch his back because he didn't know what was coming.
On the other hand, Ortiz was screaming into the mic like a maniac and even said, that he will stab him (Garrett) if he got a chance. While these promos were over-the-top, it seemed that Santana's statement was probably on point when he said that Garrett didn't know what was coming.
Why was Jake Hager's fight ruled a no-contest?
Jake Hager came to the octagon in his Inner Circle T-shirt and surprisingly, still had "We The People" playing as his entrance music. This comes after Chris Jericho buried the gimmick on AEW Dynamite.
When the match got underway, Hager gave a knee to the groin and the referee called a timeout allowing Garrett to recover. Once the match restarted, Hager had Garrett against the cage and landed a vicious knee between his legs. Garrett went straight down to the mat as a "pool of blood" formed around his face.
The referee Dan Miragliotta deemed the knee unintentional and was declared a no-contest instead of a disqualification.
What's next?
It's unclear as to when will Jake Hager's next MMA fight will be. It's unfortunate that his fight ended the way it did and there is no word if there will be repercussions for his actions. On the other hand, this increases his heel potential in both Bellator and AEW. It'll be interesting as to how things pan out.
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