Retired fighter Brian Stann is currently a color commentator for the UFC and he has seen his fair share of controversies over the years.
The newest controversy comes in the form of the illegal knee strikes that Eddie Alvarez delivered to Dustin Poirier at UFC 211. Referee Herb Dean ruled the knee strikes accidental and the result of the fight was a no contest, something Stann disagrees with.
“Now the decision is made to call it a no-contest. A DQ [disqualification] and a no contest. No. These are illegal moves. That should be a disqualification, a win for Dustin Poirier, who was most likely up two rounds to none,” Stann said to MMA Fighting.
Poirier himself has disagreed with the call and has recently filed an appeal to have the result of the fight changed to a disqualification.
Stann also feels that the confusion in the rules is something that is messing with the fighters and he wants that to be addressed quickly.
“Here’s the overall frustration: We set new rules, we barely ever use them, we go to different cities every damn weekend and these fighters have no idea what knees are allowed, what positions they’re supposed to be in, what point scores we’re going by. I was in one country, in Fortaleza in Brazil, and it was a mixture of the old and the new rules! I asked the referee, ‘do the fighters know that?’ He said, ‘well, the three bouts that I’m reffing, they know that.’ Come on! We’re better than this. Decide on rules and go with them so that these athletes know. And the referees, they should be the best ones to know. Get the rules right. I don’t buy that that should have been a no-contest. That should have been a win for Dustin Poirier and what makes me super upset is that we continue to have controversy over these rules. We have to fix this,” says Stann.
Disagreement with the rules in place or not, the retired fighter is going to be sitting at the commentary desk at UFC Fight Night 109 in just under two weeks.
