Unsurprisingly, in the media furore surrounding Ketlen Vieira’s decision win over Holly Holm this past weekend, Vieira herself believes the judges got it right. She was awarded the decision 2-1 on the judges’ scorecards despite Holly Holm controlling most of the fight in the clinch. At the post-fight press conference, Vieira described how judges can see through the “antigame” employed by fighters who just don’t do enough to earn a victory.
“I think she was doing more of an ‘antigame,’ we use that term for soccer. That’s what she was doing, she was basically trying to neutralize me. She was just pressing me against the cage but nothing was happening, she just wanted me to stop fighting and I think that the judges actually saw that.”
Ketlen Vieira: UFC judges saw through Holm’s “Antigame”
Vieira’s coach, Andre Pederneiras, was audibly telling her off in between rounds for her failure to bend Holly Holm to her will. For Vieira, this is simply part of the game. It was enough to motivate her to get the win.
“Not just in the fights, but also in the gym, he’s always like, ‘You’re losing, you’re losing, listen, she’s got this, you’re trailing it.’
And yes, it’s something that he uses to propel us to actually win and to find more, to actually go for a fight, to look for a fight, to look for a win. So it’s something that works and he knows he needs to actually use that kind of approach.”
Vieira also insists that Holly Holm did a “light tap” during the most notable exchange of the fight, in which she locked a rear naked choke onto Holm in the dying seconds of the second round. As Holly Holm turned pink, Ketlen Vieira says that she didn’t finish the fight then and there because she relaxed a little upon feeling a tap, allowing her opponent to get out.
“I felt pretty good about that and I thought that she actually was doing a light tap. I saw the ref come in close and when I looked over to see him coming close that’s when I think she took the opportunity because I looked away from what was going on and she escaped me.
But God’s plans, they can’t be denied.”
Do you think Ketlen Vieira deserved to win over Holm’s “antigame”, or is neutralizing wrestling simply a feature of MMA these days? Let us know what you think in the comments.
