This was one for the body
language experts.
There’s no legitimate debate over whether heavy favorite Jacob Malkoun landed an illegal elbow to the back of Cody Brundage’s head while the two were on the ground, he certainly did.
What some may debate, however,
was whether Brundage was healthy enough to continue and if he
was interested in doing so after having been on the short end before the foul.
Following the blow, Brundage
repeatedly asked referee Mark Smith how much time he had to recover before resuming
the fight.
And as he sat casually with his back against the
fence, he stole several looks toward the gathered officials, appearing to gauge what the result would be.
“It’s up to the fighter at this point,” analyst Dominick Cruz said. “He’s got to want to get back in there.”
Ultimately, Brundage chose not to
rejoin the fray and Smith, who had the choice of deeming the fight a no contest
or a disqualification, picked the latter and officially ended matters at 4:15
of the first. Incidentally, one fight earlier, Jake Collier continued after a nasty eye poke and went on to lose a unanimous decision to Mohammed Usman.
Still, Cruz, who’d leaned skeptical during the delay, spun his judgmental needle toward Malkoun at the conclusion.
“As a fighter you’ve got to look at this from a responsible place,” he said. “You have to take those positions carefully because you have an easy win under your belt. Instead, it’s a loss.”
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