Israel Adesanya thinks he would have reached the final bell of his UFC title fight with Alex Pereira if Steve Mazzagatti was the referee for the fight.
Middleweight champion Adesanya, 33, was looking to make the sixth defence of his title in the main event of UFC 281 in New York this past weekend, but he came up short after being knocked out in the fifth round by former kickboxing rival Pereira. The stoppage was debated by fans as some feel that Adesanya should have been given more time from referee Marc Goddard to recover from the fight-ending sequence.
'The Last Stylebender' gave a tongue-in-cheek comment after the fight in which he suggested controversial referee Mazzagatti would have let the fight go on. "My ego would say, 'At least let me go out on my shield.' I don't think I would have gone out, because I was still there. I've seen worse stoppages, bring back Steve Mazzagatti, I would have been fine. He might have won that round but I would still be the champion," he said.
