Jason Knight deducted point for biting Gabriel Benitez’s finger in tough UFC loss

It was a night to forget for Jason Knight.

Rising UFC featherweight Jason Knight slumped to two consecutive defeats for the first time in his career as he lost a unanimous decision to Gabriel Benitez in Fresno's co-main event. The judges' scorecards were a little odd. Two of the judges scored it 30-26 while the other had it 29-26 in favour of the Mexican. The odd scoring occurred because 'Hick Diaz' was deducted a point for a foul he committed in the clinch which initially left commentator Paul Felder perplexed.

"I'm thinking he pulled a finger and did small joint manipulation, which is illegal in MMA. You cannot grab the fingers and bend them backwards. That sounds like he might have done... is that what happened?"

As it turned out, Knight actually bit his opponent's finger. Once referee received confirmation of what went down, he immediately took one point off the American. https://twitter.com/UFCONFOX/status/939725447935361029 In the post-fight press conference, Benitez explained that he harboured no ill will towards Knight over the foul. In his eyes, it's just a hazard of the sport and he firmly believes that Knight did not do it intentionally.

"No, because in this sport everything happens. It's just a mistake. I don't have any hard feelings to him. It's just the sport."

Scoring the biggest win of his career may have numbed the pain a little. It's a pity that ref wasn't in the cage for Norman Parke's first fight against KSW champion Mateusz Gamrot. Had the Polish lightweight been deducted a point for his finger-biting incident, the fight would have finished as a draw which would have spared the Northern Irishman another controversial entry in his loss column. https://twitter.com/Grabaka_Hitman/status/922143944028442626 Very big of him.