It doesn't look like Roy Nelson will be punished for his actions against referee John McCarthy last night in Brasilia. The heavyweight picked up a win over Antonio Silva on the main card of UFC Fight Night 95, but was upset about how the stoppage went down.
After dropping Silva with an uppercut, he was forced to hit him a few more times before John McCarthy, who was right beside him, would stop the fight. It certainly seemed like Silva wasn't intelligently defending himself and that Nelson had a good point with his beef, but he took it a little too far. He ended up kicking McCarthy in the rear end and flipping him off, before cooler heads prevailed.
For his part, Nelson explained himself at the post-fight press conference. He doesn't feel like he actually kicked McCarthy, but is still apologetic over the incident. However, he wouldn't take it back.
"It was a push. It was more of like, dude, come on.
"Then we had a conversation in the cage. I was like, 'Dude, he was knocked out.' And he was like, ‘No, he wasn't.' And I'm like, dude, I know what a knockout is. I knock people out. That's what I do for a living. I know what a knockout is. Just because the guy didn't roll his eyes into the back of his head, or shake, or whatever...it was just one of those things."
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"I didn't want to hurt ‘Bigfoot' more than I had to. And I got taken by the moment, because it's like I'm beating the sh*t out of somebody and you're like, dude, enough is enough. And for me, it hurt my feelings. And I apologize 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."
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"It wasn't like he] was so far away. He was over here to my side, and I know I had a conversation. I'm like, he's out. He's like, ‘no he's not, keep on moving.' So for me, I feel like I'm giving ‘Bigfoot' extra damage, where he doesn't actually need to get hit that much."
According to MMA Fighting, UFC Senior VP and GM of Brazil Giovani Decker said the UFC wouldn't punish Nelson and it would be up to CABMMA.
