William Gomis earned a controversial TKO victory over Yanis Ghemmouri tonight at UFC fight Night 226.
Round One:
High kick suddenly from Gomis after a tentative first 30 seconds, but it’s blocked. Leg kick for Ghemmouri. Both looking for the occasional stomp to to the knee and leg kick.
Another head kick attempt from Ghemmouri is blocked. Body kick for Gomis. A leg kick landed for each. A couple of rapid-fire low kicks for Gomis and one in response from Ghemmouri.
Spinning kick to the body from Gomis misses. Leg kick and one high to the body sent from Gomis. Ghemmouri continuing to throw the occasional head kick attempt. Knee stomp from Gomis buckles Ghemmouri’s leg a bit, but he seems fine afterwards.
More head kick attempts from Ghemmouri, the latter of which came the closest yet to landing. kick from Gomis seems to stray to the groin and forces a very brief stoppage.
Leg kick for Ghemmouri. Gomis raising the tempo and aggression now in the final seconds of the round as he lands rapid-fire kicks low and high.
….
Round Two:
Ghemmouri stomping to the knee a couple of times to start and Gomis retaliates with a body kick.
Nice straight right from Gomis. He goes for a kick upstairs. They clinch up for a moment and Gomis lands an elbow.
Ghemmouri into a takedown attempt now and starts to move Gomis over to the cage. He presses Gomis up against it, but Gomis threatens with a guillotine choke. Gomis turning into Ghemmouri now and has him up against the cage while continuing to work the choke. He works on it for quite a while, but eventually his grip starts to loosen and Ghemmouri breaks free and reverses the clinch position.
Gomis breaks free after eating a knee to the body. Leg kick and a head kick behind it from Gomis. Body kick from Ghemmouri.
Two leg kicks for Gomis. Missed head kick yet again from Ghemmouri. Switch kick to the body from Gomis. Now a spinning kick to the midsection as the round comes to a close.
Round Three:
Inside low kicks exchanged. Right hand for Gomis. Leg kick for Ghemmouri and then one from Gomis. Ghemmouri clinches up and marches Gomis over to the cage.
Ghemmouri with a couple of knees to the thigh and then Gomis fires off a knee to the head. Gomis breaking free from the clinch now.
Head kick from Ghemmouri and that was only just blocked in time. Low kicks exchanged. Ghemmouri goes in on a single-leg attempt against the cage. He gives up on that but stays in the clinch. Gomis works his way out of the position.
Front kick from Gomis lands around the belt-line of Ghemmouri. Ghemmouri grimaces and stops for a moment while clutching at his cup. The ref steps in immediately. Everyone thinks he’s called a time out due to a groin strike, but nope, he’s waving the fight off, believing that Gomis has landed a fight-ending blow.
Real confusion here. The ref consults the review official who watches it back and says it was a fair blow since it landed to the belt, and so Gomis comes away with a controversial TKO finish at 2.20mins of the third round.
The replay suggests that Gomis toes landed very close to the belt-line, though perhaps ever so slightly below it.
However, even if it was a legal blow surely the referee should just have told Ghemmouri to continue fighting when it happened, rather than instantly stepping in to end the fight.
