Another UFC event, another controversial stoppage from veteran referee Herb Dean. Alexander Volkov unleashed a volley of unanswered strikes to Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC Vegas 56, leading Herb Dean to stop the fight while Jairzinho Rozenstruik was still standing. Both heavyweights have finally weighed in on the issue.
Alexander Volkov, who won the fight thanks to the decision, believes it was a good stoppage from the ref, as he told the post-fight press conference. “It’s not my fault anyway. The referee stopped this.
Volkov Defends Controversial Herb Dean Stoppage, Rozenstruik Releases Statement
In the moment, I hit him, he was a little bit knocked out so he wasn’t being fully fresh. Anyway, it was a big opportunity to knock him out, to land because he was almost on the mat. I was ready to throw him down and continue my work.
[Rozenstruik] was in a bad position. The referee stopped the fight. He was in a bad position and he took some hard punches and he was a little bit knocked out. It’s not my fault but ask this of the referee, not me. I just did my job.”
On Twitter, Rozenstruik simply expressed his confusion. “I’m kinda confused on how the fight went and I’m disappointed that it was stopped. It definitely was a troubling situation, but I was far from giving up the fight. Did someone lay flat on the ground with his eyes shut? That’s what we call a knockout.
Alexander and I basically just started exchanging some heavy strikes. The stuff you all wanted to see! Big up to Alexander Volkov for taking the fight. I’ve no notable damage and I like to fight soon.”
The fight represented a much-needed win for Alexander Volkov, who recently lost via first-round submission to understated British heavyweight Tom Aspinall, and to title contender Ciryl Gane before that. The towering Russian fighter is grateful to be winning again, and is looking to fight the Frenchman once again now that he’s back to winning ways.
“I’m really happy to come back on a win streak. I’m happy to come back with a win. I’m just happy. I did all the plan I had in this fight. Everything went perfect. Nothing went wrong. Everything’s good.
It doesn’t matter for me about revenge or winning other fights. I’m ready for any challenge. Any challenge would be good but maybe I want to rematch with [Ciryl] Gane because this fight was close. With Derrick Lewis, I won all the rounds and then I just took this punch. It was good for him. He was good with his punch, but anyway, I don’t feel this is a big problem for me.
For me, I like more challenges, and right now, for me, I think that rematch with Gane because I respect him very much, about his stand-up work, about everything, it’s very interesting for me to meet him again. I’m ready for any challenge against any fighters, any time.”
Let us know what you think of the stoppage in the comments.
