Rodolfo Bellato’s fight with Paul Craig in the prelims of last night’s UFC On ESPN 69 event in Atlanta ended in a no-contest due to an illegal upkick in the final second of the opening round, but Anthony Smith has now accused Bellato of faking being knocked out in order to try to influence the outcome.
Smith doesn’t dispute that Craig’s upkick did land, but what he does take issue with Bellato’s suspicious behaviour afterwards.
“It was a great fight up until the way that it ended all weird,” Smith said on the UFC’s post fight show. “Paul Craig was really forcing the takedowns, he ends up shooting the takedown, pulls guard, the round ends and he throws an upkick while Bellato, he has a knee down. So that’s an illegal strike. I’m going to be hard here. I’m going to be hard on Bellato.
“As the upkick happens, he looks to the referee to see if the referee realized that was illegal. He looks right to him. You see his eyes come to the referee to protest and then realizes maybe I can get a free win. Lays there, pretends he’s unconscious, jolts back awake allegedly. Referee comes over. That is a man who is awake, pretends to grapple the referee as if he’s unconscious, trying to get a cheap win. I’ve been doing this a long time and I know what it looks like when somebody’s faking it.”
In all fairness Bellato’s reaction after the blow landed was bizarre, and it’s hard to explain how somehow who was supposedly KO’d had time to complain to the referee on his way to the canvas.
Even so his opponent Craig was somewhat diplomatic when asked about it post-fight.
“A few people messaged me regarding this, and they’re saying that it looked a bit floppish, like he was maybe hamming it up,” Craig told reporters backstage.
“I don’t want to think any fighter is looking for an easy way out in this sport. We’re all fighters. We’re all in the UFC, the pinnacle of our careers, and we’re looking to put on a performance.
“But I can see where people are looking at and think it looks a bit ‘floppishly’, ‘he’s maybe taking a dive…
“I don’t really think that, but I’ll need to watch it back. It’s raw at the moment.”
