While Tim Kennedy may have suffered a scary knockout loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 178, he found more than enough energy to rip the Cuban wrestler for what he viewed as gamesmanship backstage following the fight. You can check out some of the back-and-forth here.
Tim Kennedy yelling at Yoel Romero post-fight -- https://t.co/ko5h1X4NyW
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) September 28, 2014
Kennedy has good reason to be angry, mind you. In the final seconds of the second round, Kennedy landed a brutal series of punches that badly rocked Romero. The horn sounded before Kennedy could finish the fight, but Romero was clearly on rubbery legs as he moved to his stool.
However, after the standard minute break was up, Romero stayed on his stool. His corner lingered in the cage. A sizable glob of Vaseline was left on the gaping wound over Romero's left eye.
When all was said and done, sloppy, lackadaisical refereeing by "Big" John McCarthy and old-school rule-bending by Romero's corner had afforded him nearly 40 extra seconds to recover. Romero would win the fight a shortly thereafter, knocking Kennedy out with a savage series of punches.
From there, Kennedy took his frustration to Twitter, citing a rule that discusses that a fighter should be declared the loser via TKO should he be unable or unwilling to answer the bell in a timely manner:
NAC 467.728 If a combatant fails or refuses to resume competing when the bell sounds...the referee shall award a decision of TKO
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) September 28, 2014
Unfortunately for Kennedy, however, it seems that little will be done to right any perceived wrongdoing. At the post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White downplayed the severity of Romero's possible transgression, "the thing that throws a kink in the thing is that it was our guy that put the Vaseline on. So there was nobody trying to take advantage," he said. "They called his guy in to wipe the Vaseline off. He didn't understand what they were saying. It's very unfortunate."
When asked whether or not an immediate rematch, White came just shy of no-selling the idea. Romero is a valuable fighter as the UFC begins its push into Latin America, so there is little reason for the promotion to undermine his rise through the ranks.
NSAC Executive Director Francisco Aguilar, similarly, had very little sympathy for Kennedy, spinning the incident as a simple matter of an inspector needing to double-check the Vaseline on Romero's face:
Aguilar said they needed to get the grease off and that the inspector who needed to get the stool out didn’t do so in time.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) September 28, 2014
Regardless, Kennedy is likely to be shelved for a good, long while as Kennedy's camp stated he likely suffered a broken left orbital bone during the fight.
Stick with Bleacher Report for more developments on the story as they become available.
