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Neil Magny scored a come from behind third round TKO win over Mike Malott on the UFC 297 main card.
While Magny was happy to come away with the victory, one thing he believes is that the UFC wanted to see Malott walk away with the win.
“At the end of the day, that’s just the way that the cards lay, so to speak,” Magny said on The MMA Hour. “My last fight, I came up short. For me to get an opportunity to fight someone ranked in the top 10, top five, whatever else it may be, I have to go out there and get another win. Just beating an average Joe wouldn’t really make that big of a statement. I have to go and face some of these up-and-comers that are looking to break into the rankings, so to speak, and I have to do it in very impressive fashion.
“So when the fight was offered to me and I saw who the opponent was, and I saw that it was in Canada, all that kind of stuff, it was very evident what the game plan was, as far as promoting goes. But I welcome that pressure with open arms.”
Malott has now suffered his first loss under the UFC banner, but still holds a 3-1-0 record under the UFC banner.
There were some who complained about the fight stoppage between Magny and Malott, but Magny feels the referee did everything right.
“At the end of the day, the sport being what it is, I feel he gave him every opportunity to stay in the fight,” Magny said. “If one of those opportunities [were there] had he called the fight too early, then he would have argued, ‘No, he called the fight too early, he was up two rounds, you should have let the fight play out.’ But I feel like it was a good call on the ref’s part to give Mike every opportunity to get himself back in the fight.
“He gave him ample verbal warnings, ‘Get back in the fight, fight back! Reposition!’ He gave him every opportunity to make it clear that he wanted to stay in the fight, and he still had fight in him, but it ended up being too much. Just overwhelming shots were landing pretty flush, and it was enough to get the victory.”
