Post-ONE FC Pride of a Nation ~ From The Coffee Boy
ONE FC 5 was, as expected, action-packed. We saw Bibiano Fernandes put on a mixed martial arts clinic against Gustavo Falciroli, Eric Kelly make a name for himself against the very game Jens Pulver, and we saw the redemption of Phil Baroni as he smashed Rodrigo Ribeiro. But let’s touch on some of the more “sensitive” issues of the night.
Shannon “One Shin” Wiratchai looked in trouble as Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson was able to easily dominate the first round by putting him on his back, and land some heavy punches and elbows. The second round took an unexpected turn as “One Shin” started landing some heavy punches and kicks.
Here’s where it gets controversial: Chilson tried taking him down again, but Wiratchai was able to stuff it. He threw a big punch, and Chilson was not only rocked, but dropped. As he started getting up, and still had one hand on the ground, Wiratchai threw a big kick to the head, and the ref jumped in.
Now, we all know ONE FC mixes Pride rules with the Unified rules. Commentator Jason Chambers mentioned that the referee had not signaled the “open attack”, yet Wiratchai threw that kick anyways.
It’s a little confusing at times, for me at least, to know just when you can throw a kick like that.
However, the referee didn’t do anything about it, saw that Chilson was in trouble, and stepped in. So maybe that kick was legal?
The bigger issue with that fight was whether or not the stoppage was premature. Chilson was dropped, tried getting up, and was hit with a devastating kick, so the referee decided to stop the fight, in favor of Wiratchai. I have seen far worse stoppages, and while there may be some truth that Chilson could have gone on, the referee did what he had to do. In fact, the referee, if you watch the fight again, was clearly ready to pounce as soon as Chilson was dropped with that devastating punch.
Verdict: Fair stoppage. Chilson looked hurt, and was dropped (which many people crying “bad stoppage” seem to forget), so the ref did what he thought was right. There is a good chance a rematch could happen, but I think it would be best for both men to go on and fight other talent in that division.
The other big story of the night was Andrei Arlovski vs Tim Sylvia. The first round went alright for both men, although there was some sluggishness in the clinch. The second round saw Arvloski coming out throwing hard punches, at one point knocking Sylvia’s mouthpiece about. Sylvia was dropped with a couple punches, and Arlovski wasted no time and threw two soccer kicks, the second one clearly having more “umph” in it. But what happened?
It looked as if the fight was over, and most people watching were either confused or thought that Arlovski had won the fight. As it turns out, referee Yuji Shimada was signaling a time-out. What happened was that Shimada had not signaled “open attack”, which by ONE FC rules, allows a fighter to throw a soccer kick. Sylvia was given some time to recover, and Arlovski was handed a yellow card. Sylvia told the referee that he couldn’t see properly, so the bout was declared a no-contest.
In no time, people took to Twitter to bash the ONE FC “open attack” rule. In a nutshell, most people argued that there is not much time for a fighter to hear the “open attack” signal before he throws a kick. Many believe that fighters should be allowed to throw it when they want, much like the days of Pride, or that the soccer kick should be banned altogether.
This isn’t the first time there was controversy surrounding the soccer kick. At ONE FC 4, Zorobabel Moreira threw a devastating soccer kick to downed opponent Roger Huerta. Huerta was clearly out of it, on all fours, when Moreira looked up for a signal to throw a soccer kick. It knocked Huerta out cold. The two problems we saw with it was that some sitting near the cage didn’t hear “open attack”, but heard variations of “no kick” to “low kick”. According to MMAFighting.com, Moreira says that Yuji Shimada was yelling “low kick” to him, so he threw the kick. If that was the case…well, you see the problem with that? It makes absolutely no sense for a referee to tell a fighter what strike to throw.
The other problem with the kick was that Huerta was clearly out of it, and in fact the soccer kick looked very unnecessary. On top of that, if that position Huerta was in was “open-attack”-worthy, fighters are being put in dangerous positions as we all know how destructive a soccer kick can be.
Verdict: ONE FC needs to reexamine their rule-set. I’m not in a position to say whether or not soccer kicks should be allowed, but the rules need to be more clearly defined. Clearly, “open attack” being yelled by a referee (or even “low kick”) isn’t working out every time for them.
