Sean O'Malley defeats Kris Moutinho via third-round TKO at UFC 264 on Saturday, July 10 [Photo courtesy of @UFCNews Twitter].
Kris Moutinho still unhappy with UFC 264 stoppage: “I had 30 seconds left, who knows what happens?”
This past weekend UFC 264 delivered plenty of highlights and shocking moments. From the broken tibia of Conor McGregor, Tai Tuivasa’s spectacular knockout of Greg Hardy, to an unexpected incredibly tough showing from Kris Moutinho making his UFC debut against Sean O’Malley.
Moutinho was making his UFC debut on just 11 days’ notice against O’Malley, and while he was a relative unknown to most fans, the CFFC and CES veteran showed incredible grit and toughness in his debut. The fight had an unfortunate ending however as referee Herb Dean stopped the fight with 30 seconds remaining. giving O’Malley the victory. While UFC President Dana White thought the fight could’ve been stopped a round sooner, Kris Moutinho wanted the opportunity to fight until the end.
During an interview with ‘MMA Today’ on Sirius XM, Moutinho expressed his disappointment in the stoppage and how he wishes he would’ve been given the opportunity to finish out the final 30 seconds of the fight.
🎤"I had 30 seconds left … I should have been given my chance to go out on my sword. Who knows what happens?" — @MoutinhoKris explains to @RyanMcKinnell and @DinThomas why he still is unhappy with the stoppage in his #UFC264 fight vs. Sean O'Malley 🔊
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— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) July 13, 2021
“I’m going to be honest, I have nothing bad to say about Herb Dean cause he’s a great dude, obviously a great ref, he obviously knows something I don’t know. But I’ve seen fights that people look like that they’re going to die in the cage, and nobody says a word. Robbie Lawler fought Rory MacDonald and his face was smashed inside his head, and nobody stopped that fight until the guy curled up into a ball on the floor. Calvin Kattar, there’s all these other guys that have been given their chance to go out ther and swing.”
“I had 30 seconds left, whether I was going to win or not, was going to take more shots or not, I should’ve been given my chance to go out on my sword. Maybe, who knows what happens, or just go out the way I want to go out. I was still swinging, I was still throwing punches. It is what it is, I lost the fight regardless so it doesn’t really matter to me.”
While Kris Moutinho and Sean O’Malley were credited with a Fight Of the Night $75,000 bonus, it certainly was a disappointing way for his UFC debut to end.
