Regret for an ass-kicking: Ryan Benoit calls late kick to Sergio Pettis 'uncalled for'

DALLAS – Were it not for shocking upsets in the two title fights anchoring the UFC 185 pay-per-view, it’s possible Ryan Benoit’s late kick to the butt of Sergio Pettis would be the dominant story coming out of the event.

Benoit (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) caught Pettis (12-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) with a left hook, dropping him to the canvas. After a barrage of follow-up shots from Benoit, the referee jumped in to call a halt to the action and award Benoit the TKO victory. It was at that point that Benoit, seemingly aware that the fight had already been stopped, added insult to injury with a final kick to Pettis’ backside.

Benoit explained the importance of the victory, which happened on the UFC Fight Pass prelims portion of the card at American Airlines Center in Dallas, while speaking with the media after the event.

“Obviously this is the biggest win of my career,” Pettis said. “It seems like the UFC was building up Pettis a little bit. This was the fight that I had been praying for for years since I got into fighting. I wanted a guy who would be able to bang with me after I hit him on the feet. He went for a couple little takedowns – so did I. It was just part of the fight. Obviously this was a huge, huge ‘W.’ Knocking out a Pettis isn’t easy for anybody. Only one other person has finished him before me, and I’m the first one to knock him out. So, obviously this is a huge win for me. This is a huge wave that I tried to make in the flyweight division, and hopefully I can keep climbing from here.”

The importance of the victory may have been overshadowed by the kick, however.

UFC President Dana White was ready to move on from the issue after the event, calling the situation “all good.”

Benoit said he was caught up in the moment, but that there’s no excuse for the late strike.

“I’ve got to take that one back,” Benoit said. “I obviously – I lost a little bit of control in that fight. But this is part of the sport. We’re supposed to be able to lose control. We’re supposed to be able to like to hit guys. I’m not saying that was justified whatsoever; that was completely uncalled for. Shame on me for doing that. It makes me look bad, it makes my gym look bad, it looks bad for the sport. All I can say is, in that moment when it was happening, I obviously saw that I clipped him. I went in for the finish, and I had him on his back. It really shocked me how long the referee let it keep going for. I think he gave him plenty of chances to keep coming back. Even when he turned over and he turtled, up I was hitting him and I was still kind of like, ‘Where’s the ref?,’ because he was done.

“I’ve had a lot quicker finishes than that before. So, I was really surprised. By the time the referee jumped in there, I was just in kill mode. The kick was just – I guess I soccer kicked him or I kicked him in the butt. I don’t even know where I hit him. I guess I kicked him in the butt. At least it wasn’t in the head or something. It was completely uncalled for and I have to apologize to the UFC and I have to apologize to the athletic commission. That was my mistake, and it’ll never happen again. I have to learn from it now. I’ll see what happens and what the consequences are from this, because I’m sure there’s something coming.”

For complete coverage of UFC 185, check out the UFC Events section of the site.