A bantamweight fight between Phumi Nkuta and Adriano Moraes ended with a guillotine choke near the end of the bout. Moraes held the choke for moments after the final bell while Nkuta was attempting to survive. Herb Dean, acting as the third man in the cage, reviewed replay footage before declaring a submission win for Moraes. Dean said his usual focus during chokes is on limbs that can indicate a fighter has passed out. In the final seconds, he shifted attention to Moraes’ hands to understand the grips and whether they would release immediately after the bell. Dean concluded from the replay that Nkuta became unconscious a fraction of a second before the bell.
"Dean explains that he is usually focused on a fighter's limbs when they are caught in a choke, where they can pass out. However, Dean briefly shifted his focus to Moraes' hands before the final bell to figure out how to pull him away immediately after the bell. Since his focus was diverted in the final seconds, Dean decided to take a long look at the replay. According to Dean's judgment based on the replay, Nkuta was unconscious just a fraction of a second before the final bell, which made him declare it a win for Moraes."
""I want to see the body because the hands and often the legs are what's gonna give you your clue that someone's out," Dean said. "Whereas looking at their face won't. As it's time for me to stop the fight, I'm looking at [Moraes'] hands because I'm trying to figure out which grips he has and what I might have to fight if he's not letting go instantly. So that's where my focus kind of shifted towards the hands... I went out to look at the replay. And it definitely showed that he went unconscious before the bell, right a fraction of a second before the bell.""
Read at Sherdog
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