Miesha Tate Offers Different Take On Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo Stoppage
Petr Yan claimed the vacant UFC bantamweight title last weekend at UFC 251, after beating Jose Aldo via a fifth round TKO. Although the fight made the headlines for all the right reasons, following an exceptional display of heart and skill by both men; the fight also ended in controversy, as many believed the fight went on too long and the Brazilian took a lot of unnecessary punishment. Former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate disagrees however.
Speaking on her SiriusXM MMA Tonight Show (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), Tate shared her thoughts on the controversial finish.
“I am not a fan of fights being stopped too quick, and people are concerned about safety,” Tate said. “My argument is: we are in a hurt business. We fight for a living. We sign on the dotted line and we know exactly what we are risking and we want to be allowed to risk it, okay? So we don’t want to be stolen from, we don’t want to be robbed, we don’t want fights to be stopped quickly. I wasn’t cringing at that stoppage [Yan vs Aldo]. I wasn’t upset. There was maybe two times in the last 30 seconds or so where I was kind of like oh, he could stop it here, and the ref chose not to.
“I didn’t feel upset about that because right when I felt like he should probably stop it, there was a slow down in the action,” The ONE Championship Vice-President added. “Petr adjusted his position or Jose moved and it was like, yeah, it probably could’ve been stopped right there. I do think Jose Aldo knew that the fight was done before the ref decided to step in. I don’t think that anything was gonna change, but I’m not upset by it. I don’t think it was a horrible stoppage.”
After a closely fought first four rounds, Yan stepped up a gear in the fifth and final round and after dropping Aldo, began to land some brutal ground and pound until referee Leon Roberts finally stopped the fight with 1:36 minutes remaining of the fight.
Despite the late call and believing the fight could have been stopped earlier in some stages, Tate stated that she personally prefers to have a referee that lets the fighters fight back and show what they are capable of, rather than one who steps in and stops the fight too early.
“Do I think it could’ve been stopped earlier? Yeah, and I wouldn’t have been upset by it, I think it definitely could’ve been called at least two times before that and I would’ve felt like it was a good stoppage,” Tate said. “But the referee chose to let them fight it out and give ample opportunity, and you know Petr on the other hand probably should’ve kept going and not taken those pauses, sped it up, done something to change how he was delivering his flurries.”
Tate, who last competed in 2016, asserted that Roberts is the type of referee that she would like to have oversee her fights.
“I would way rather have a referee who lets fighters be fighters than somebody who wants to overdo their job and stops fights soon. For me, that’s the key,” she declared. “I would have that man referee my fight any day of the week.”
Do you agree with Miesha Tate? What were your thoughts on the Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo stoppage at UFC 251?
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