Trevor Wittman actually tried to stop Nate Marquardt fight twice

Kelvin Gastelum and Nate Marquardt

The second-round stoppage in Kelvin Gastelum’s victory over Nate Marquardt, universally lauded by MMA pundits and observers as the right move and a breath of fresh air in today’s sport, was actually called off twice, according to the coach who called off the fight.

Marquardt’s coach, Trevor Wittman, told MMAjunkie there was one minute remaining in the second round of the fight on UFC 188’s pay-per-view main card when he decided his charge had had enough.

Marquardt, he said, just wasn’t performing the way he had been in training camp, and he was concerned about what could happen if he continued on in the promotion’s octagon at Mexico City Arena.

“Taking needless damage is not good in this sport,” he said. “The damage is when it affects your sharpness and the way you perform, and to see him take punishment, that’s longevity and him having kids.”

So he stepped on the cage apron, a veteran boxing move he assumed would stop the fight. Instead, officials stopped him.

“They grabbed me, and their concern was that people couldn’t see,” Wittman told MMAjunkie. “I’m sitting there swearing at these guys, and they’re like, ‘Get down. No one can stop the fight but the referee or the doctor.'”

Although the current unified rules allow a cornerman to throw in a towel, ideally one that’s specially marked by the commission, or tell officials to stop the fight, various athletic commissions abide by different procedures when it comes to who can call off a contest.

With 30 seconds left in the frame, Wittman saw Marquardt attempt a kneebar, and he suddenly second-guessed his decision. But when he went to check on his fighter between rounds, and the first words he clearly heard were, ‘I have nothing left,’ he knew he had made the right decision.

So he made it again, telling the cageside doctor and anyone else who would listen to stop the fight. Gastelum (11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) was declared the winner by TKO.

Officially, the cageside doctor recommended to referee Dan Miragliotta that the fight be stopped. Unofficially, Wittman spoke up so Marquardt (33-15-2 MMA, 11-8 UFC) could fight another day.

“Ultimately, that’s my job as a coach – to protect my athlete,” he said.

Online observers immediately questioned whether Marquardt, who competed in his 50th MMA fight, should retire. Wittman admits he considered telling the fighter as much. But the fighter’s symptoms have convinced him that his performance this past Saturday wasn’t an indicated of a fighter in steep decline, but rather one fighting against steep physical odds.

“To me, it wasn’t a performance thing,” Wittman said. “You’ll start to see guys getting old in the training. And with my experience, I don’t think he’s quite at that point yet.”

Even before the bout, Wittman said Marquardt’s health had prompted concern from officials with the UFC-backed Latin American Council of Mixed Martial Arts (Consejo Latinoamericano de Artes Marciales Mixtas). The fighter’s blood pressure was abnormally high. It took him several hours to provide a urine sample for a drug test. The morning of the bout, he was suffering from diarrhea. Then, just before walking to the arena, he threw up.

Wittman now believes he and the fighter were suffering the symptoms of altitude sickness. He admits they made a grave miscalculation on the effects of competing at almost 7,400 feet above sea level, despite the fact they prepared for the bout just outside of Denver at 5,800 feet.

Marquardt, the coach said, planned to bring a tent to help him adjust to Mexico City, but the tool did not arrive in time. Others in his camp downplayed the potential severity of fighting at altitude.

Midway through the first round, though, it was clear Marquardt was struggling against Gastelum. The winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 17? battered him with strikes, in particular a knee to the midsection. Marquardt’s performance went rapidly downhill. By the second, he appeared to be largely defensive and taking unanswered punishment.

Despite telling Wittman he had nothing left, Marquardt asked the coach not to call off the fight.

“He told me after his game plan was to throw one shot and then play defense for the rest of the round, which is not a good game plan, but that’s the fighter spirit,” Wittman said. “But that’s the hard part, because they always have the intention to find a way.”

Immediately after the fight was halted, observers praised Wittman for making the right call at the right moment.

“I think people praise it because you just don’t see it that often, because they’re afraid to do it,” Wittman said. “They’re afraid they’re going to lose their job with an athlete.

“I’m going to say it when I think it’s right, especially when you’re starting to see too many concussions back to back, and that was my main concern with Nate.”

Considering his history with Marquardt, however, it might be even more remarkable that he even made the call. Before he received a call from the onetime middleweight title challenger, the two hadn’t spoken in four years.

Wittman said he and Marquardt were estranged in the wake of an ill-fated headliner at UFC on Versus 4, which saw Marquardt publicly fired after he wasn’t medically cleared to fight Rick Story. A user of the now-banned testosterone-replacement therapy, Marquardt received a therapeutic-use exemption from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, but exceeded the Pennsylvania commission’s allowed levels prior to the event.

Wittman said Marquardt took offense when he spoke out publicly on TRT and criticized the UFC’s decision to release the fighter. Afterward, a bevy of high-profile UFC fighters left his gym, Grudge Training Center.

“He totally took it wrong,” Wittman said. “We lost our relationship from that point. Him and the team kind of took off, and I kind of went and did my own thing and started with new athletes.”

When Wittman advised Marquardt’s bout with Gastelum be stopped, it wasn’t the first time he had done so. In 2008, he said, he was cornering boxer Verno Phillips in WBO title bout against Paul Williams. After the eighth round, he heard Phillips say he had nothing left, and called for the fight to be stopped. Phillips, he said, never spoke to him again.

And yet, Wittman said he made the call this past Saturday without any hesitation.

“Having those situations, it was devastating, because I’m so passionate about what I do,” he said. “But I care about who my athletes are.”

Despite his initial protests, Marquardt later thanked Wittman. So did Marquardt’s expecting wife, Tessa, who had accompanied him to Mexico City and avoided the fight out of fear she would go into labor.

Backstage, UFC President Dana White gave Wittman a tip for the next time he wanted to stop a fight. Legal or not, he promised it would work.

“‘Throw the frickin’ towel in,'” Wittman remembers. “I was like, ‘Sh-t, I would have.'”

For complete coverage of UFC 188, check out the UFC Events section of the site.