Roy 'Big Country' Nelson last night knocked out Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva with a right hook dropping his opponent before a number of shots to the head prompted referee John McCarthy to step in.
However, despite the stoppage, Nelson was unhappy that McCarthy took so long to step in as he felt that Silva was clearly out of the fight and that the referee should have stopped it earlier.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big Country! <a href="https://twitter.com/roynelsonmma">@roynelsonmma</a> knocks out <a href="https://twitter.com/BigfootSilva">@BigfootSilva</a>! 💪 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UFCBrasilia?src=hash">#UFCBrasilia</a> <a href="https://t.co/HRvz6Sj5pz">https://t.co/HRvz6Sj5pz</a></p>— BT Sport UFC (@btsportufc) <a href="https://twitter.com/btsportufc/status/780024079021727745">September 25, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Afterwards, as Silva was receiving treatment, Nelson went over and lightly kicked McCarthy from behind to let him know his opinions on the matter.
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In the post-fight press conference, Nelson explained his actions.
“When I hit Bigfoot, I already knew I knocked him out with my first punch, and then I got him one more time. In my head, it was like so slow-mo.
“I’m friends with Bigfoot, and he has a family. I don’t need to keep punching him in his face.”
Following the fight, Nelson revealed the details of a conversation he had with McCarthy in the cage after he had landed the initial right hook that floored Silva.
“He was over to my side. I know I had a conversation. I’m like, ‘he’s out,' and he’s like, ‘no, he’s not. Keep on moving.’ For me, I feel like I’m giving Bigfoot extra damage where he doesn’t actually need to get hit that much,” said Nelson.
“And then we had a conversation in the cage. I was like, ‘dude, he was knocked out.' He was like, ‘no, he wasn’t,' and I’m like, ‘I know what a knockout is.' I knock people out. That’s what I do for a living. I know what a knockout is,” Nelson continued.
“I didn’t want to hurt Bigfoot more than what I had to. I got taken from the moment. I apologized to Big John, but I wouldn’t take it back. It just hurt me that I’ve got to keep on hitting a guy that doesn’t need to be hit,” said Nelson. “The referee just did a late stoppage.”
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