UFC
ABC gives response to Wyoming RFA situation, says fights should "always" be stopped after loss of consciousness
Apr 13, 2014 - 9:15:17 PM ABC gives response to Wyoming RFA situation, says fights should "always" be stopped after loss of consciousness

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Media members and fans aren't the only ones balking at the Wyoming commission and their handling of Junior Maranhao's collapse on Friday at RFA 14. New Jersey State Athletic Control Board's Nick Lembo, who is also the Chair of the Association of Boxing Commission's MMA Training and Officials Committee, has responded to the incident in an interview with Brent Brookhouse at BloodyElbow.com, and he's making sure the rest of the ABC is well aware of what happened, as well as Wyoming's response.

"As the Chair of the ABC's MMA Training and Officials Committee, I have already e-mailed articles, statements and video to the attention of the ABC President and several other Commissioners," Lembo stated. "A loss of consciousness/stability as seen at RFA 14 should ALWAYS equate to the immediate termination of the contest."

"The sport of MMA is not akin to Burmese Lefhwei in the sense that there are no timeouts or breaks in the contest subsequent to knockouts or loss of consciousness until such time that the contestant 'recovers,' chooses to continue, and action resumes."

PENICK'S ANALYSIS: Thankfully the ABC is being made aware of this incident, because Wyoming's response and claim that they handled things correctly was so absurdly false it deserves reprimand, and perhaps the ABC can pressure Wyoming into addressing this further. Clearly what happened shouldn't have happened; Maranhao shouldn't have been sent back out there. As Lembo said, the fight should have been stopped as soon as Maranhao went unconscious, plain and simple.

[SOURCE LINK]

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