It’s rare to see not one, but two successful submission attempts in one fight.
What’s even rarer is seeing that fight go the distance.
That may seem so too far-fetched to even make the final cut of the next Never Back Down straight to DVD spin-off extravaganza, but it actually happened at the Invicta FC 21 event in Kansas City on Saturday night.
The bout between Amy Montenegro and Celine Haga was a real back-and-forth battle. Haga bloodied her opponent’s nose with a beautifully executed hook kick in the first round, but ended up tapping out a few minutes later. Montenegro locked in an armbar in the dying seconds of the round, forcing the tap. Luckily for Haga the tap came a split second after the buzzer meaning that the fight was not over yet.
The real controversy came in the 11th hour of the third and final round when Haga choked Montenegro out cold before the final buzzer sounded. Montenegro was clearly unconscious face down on the canvas after the fight, but referee Greg Franklin did not award the submission.
Instead, the fight went to the judges scorecard where Montenegro was declared winner by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). The highly contentious result saw Haga’s four-fight win-streak come to an end.
According to the official rules, if a fighter in a submission is unconscious at the bell, the result should be decalred a submission win.
WOW!! What an end to Amy Montenegro vs Celine Haga on #InvictaFC21 #UFCFIGHTPASS pic.twitter.com/w0SyP2Ipoz
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) January 15, 2017
During her post-fight interview, Montenegro addressed the dodgy call in the final round.
“Well, I heard the 10 second bell and I felt a lock on the choke and obviously I was thinking, ‘Hold on, hold on, hold on.’ You know, whatever happened happened and I’m sorry to whoever is unhappy that it went to decision. but I think that the ref called it after the 10 second happened so it is what it is.”
“Remember her tapping at the end of round one, so it could have happened either way with either of us. So it was one of those things. It was a well even match “
Rematch?
