The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 128

#2 Worst: That weird finish in the Dvalishvili/Simon fight

The fight between Ricky Simon and Merab Dvalishvili had one of the weirdest finishes in UFC history

Every now and then a UFC show will throw up some kind of weird finish that makes everyone shake their head, and last night was one of those shows. The prelim fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Ricky Simon had been exciting throughout – it ended up winning both men a $50k bonus – but the finish is the only thing that anyone’s going to be talking about going forward.

Dvalishvili appeared to be two rounds ahead going into the third and with Simon beginning to take over, the Georgian wrestler attempted a takedown to seal the likely victory. Instead, he found himself caught in a tight mounted guillotine choke. Dvalishvili seemed to be fine, though – kicking his legs like he was riding a bicycle and giving referee Liam Kerrigan the thumbs up.

When the final buzzer sounded, Dvalishvili remained downed for a second before sitting up, seemingly conscious throughout. But rather than go to the decision, Kerrigan curiously decided Dvalishvili had been out cold and awarded Simon the victory – by TKO, strangely enough, rather than a technical submission.

It didn’t make much sense – if Dvalishvili had indeed been unconscious at any point surely he’d have stopped moving? And if he was out after the buzzer then surely that shouldn’t count anyway, as the fight was over? It was a bizarre ending up there with the strangest in UFC history and for my money, Dvalishvili should feel aggrieved this morning. Hopefully the UFC books a rematch soon.