Fans and Fighters Outraged by Controversial Stoppage in Jesse Gross Fight
Jesse Gross
It didn’t go as planned for Wallaceburg MMA fighter Jesse Gross as he took on Brad Cardinal for the WRECK MMA lightweight belt in Gatineau, Quebec.
Gross suffered his first professional loss after what many are calling a poor stoppage by the referee officiating the fight. Almost immediately after Brad Cardinal was declared the winner by technical submission, using a rear-naked choke at approximately 0:30 of the third round, fans and fellow fighters displayed an outcry of support to Gross via social media, as the fighting world believed the referee should have not stopped the fight, and that a poor call was to blame for Gross’ loss.
Canadian UFC superstar Mark Hominick posted this on his Twitter account seconds after the fight was called,
“Poor call against Jesse Gross, great fight before early stoppage. Ref’s have a tough job, but education needs to put in place for MMA refs.”
Early in the fight, Gross knocked down Cardinal twice without stoppage. When the referee quickly called the fight in the third round awarding the win to Cardinal, fight announcers and fans questioned why the fight was in fact called. It is speculated that the referee believed Gross tapped out, something fans, announcers, and other fight officials believe is not the case after reviewing video of the fight.
After the quick stoppage, the validity of Cardinal’s win is being called into question, and many are already speculating there will be a rematch between the two fighters.
Did you watch the fight? If you did, tell us what you think about the outcome.
I watched the Gross title fight via thescore.com. It was an amazing fight… Almost…
The first round Jessie was tagged by numerous jabs to the face and cut him open pretty good in multiple spots, but this just added fuel to his fire. The second round Gross found his range on his much taller opponent and tagged him with many great shots, including multiple knockdowns. Jessie got knocked down by a good shot in the third round. He intelligently defended himself and recovered, but found himself in a rear naked choke and the red immediately stopped the fight for no reason. There was no tap of anything that resembled a tap.
Fight promotor said they will review the tape and if there are any discrepancies found, a rematch will be awarded in September. But this does not give Jessie his undefeated record back. Ts nt easy being a ref and this is not the first instance of stoppages like this, but it will not be the last until MMA refs are properly educated.
… Properly educated for correct stoppages, rules, regulations etc.
This is completely unbelievable. I watched as well and there was NOTHING to indicate Jesse tapped. Hominick knows more about MMA than that ref will ever and he thinks it was a brutal call.
If there isn’t a re-match here, it’s an absolute joke, and Wreck MMA should lose all cred when it comes to running a proper title. It’s embarassing that this was their inaugural lightweight title fight and some no brain ref screwed it up.
Im pissed i drove 7 hours to come see the ghost win the title this was the war he has been looking for cardinal and him were having a great fight then well. We all know after fight cardinal was standing behind me i walked over to him and asked did he tap he exact words was NO HE DIDNT HE SAID MAN THAT GUY IS A TOUGH DUDE! Then he asked is he your buddy i said ya he said well sorry it ended that way but it worked out for me?? Its done now cant change it but what kind of man exepts the title that way that title should of stayed there brad should of said rematch im not taking title this way. But all we can do now is wait and see!
It was definitely an early stoppage. the fight was going great, and even though Jesse’s face was bloodied up, he was still getting the better of the stand up and ground game. As a training partner of Jesse’s, let me tell you 100% for sure, he was not tapping out. Ref’s do have a tough job, as Mark mentioned via twitter, but the fact remains that the fight was stopped prematurely. If Brad Cardinal is celebrating a win, he had better hold on to that feeling, because in the rematch there will be no chance for bad calls, believe that! The Ghost will be back to haunt the sledgehammer!
As an update to this story, Jesse Gross has been awarded a re-match against Brad Cardinal by WRECK MMA because of the circumstances surrounding the decision.
Gross and Cardinal will fight again on September 24 in Ottawa.
Jesse and his fans are being a bunch of cry babies. It sucks the ref stopped it when he did but the fight was over. Cardinal had the choke locked in deep and the only thing the ref did was stop Jesse from going to sleep. Cardinal was also getting the better of Jesse in the striking. After the fight Jesse went to the hospital with a broken nose, a torn lip (8 stitches). and had a cut by his eye sealed. Cardinal had a shower and went to party with the worst injury being a bruise on his shin from kicking Jesse in the head in round one.
Its not a matter of being a cry baby, its a matter of a ref stopping the fight prematurely.
If he had the choke sunk in on Gross, thats fine, but the ref shoulda let him tap or go to sleep. Thats how an MMA fight ends. A loss is a loss, but let it end they way its supposed to.
There are lots of times that MMA fights seem like they are over with submissions, and many times the tables get quickly turned. Thats why you cant just stop a fight because you “think” a submission is locked in. Tap out or go to sleep – that is how a fight is ended via submission. No other way.
the fight was not even close to being over and what fight were you watching Jesse did take more damage physically but on the score card was definitely winning Cardinal dropped twice to Jesse’s once Cardinal was gassing out and if fight wouldnt of been stopped Gross would be new champ did you see how deep the triangle got set in, in round 1? if fight would of been stopped there in 2 seconds of that triangle everyone would of said oh well Jesse would of tapped out anyways, mean while he popped out of that so you cant say what would of happened it was a side choke he was about to turn into it and be out of it before ref stopped it!! I guess we can talk to blue in the face but i cant [edit] wait til Sept 24 and see Gross bring home the title that he deserves tell Cardinal too keep it clean cause its coming home next time around they better put a competent ref in there this time!! why Yves Lavigne didnt ref both title fights is beyond me???
Please not that some comments above may have been edited to to content. – Thanks, CKSN
I watch a lot of MMA fights. That was totally unfair call by the ref. I do not think Jesse was in any way out of that fight. He may have been down but he was not out. I also think that what Mr. Cardinal said after the fight was total BS.Their should be a rematch soon. Get a better ref. The the boys settle it right. Awesome fight till ref. had a brain fart.
Just a little added note, actually on the refs behalf. There was a lot of blood after Jesse got the elbow. The fight should not have been stop but could have check the reason for so much blood just to make sure the fighter was not extremely damaged. Then it would have been a little unfair to Brad but atleast it would have been a better call than what he did. Please excuss my spelling error in last post. Should be {Let the boys (men) settle it right}. Bard bud, next time do not spew BS, U should have been the man and said yourself that it was not a tap out. Instead of what U said. Make the match to settle things for the fans like myself.