Vanessa Demopoulos will appeal her UFC Fight Night 242 on the basis of a missed foul, according to her representation.
At Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Demopoulos (11-6 MMA, 5-3 UFC) was submitted by a Jaqueline Amorim (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) armbar. During the set-up sequence, Demopolous could be heard on the broadcast telling referee Jacob Montalvo that Amorim was grabbing the inside of her glove – something she reiterated to the official after she tapped.
A replay appeared to show Amorim’s fingers in the vicinity of the glove opening. Commission officials huddled around a monitor before and after the official reading of the decision.
The result currently has Amorim as the victor, but Demopoulos will appeal the decision to the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).
“We’re in the process of appealing the result of Vanessa Demopoulos’ contest with Jaqueline Amorim on Saturday at UFC Vegas 97,” Iridium Sports Agency associate agent Lance Spaude said in a written statement Monday to MMA Junkie. “The broadcast clearly shows Jaqueline illegally grabbing and manipulating Vanessa’s gloves, which prevented Vanessa from turning in to Jaqueline and directly enabled Jaqueline to transition to the armbar which ended the match.”
According to the Unifed Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, glove-grabbing is illegal.
“A fighter may not control their opponent’s movement by holding onto their opponent’s shorts or gloves,” the Unified Rules state. “A fighter may hold onto or grab their opponent’s hand as long as they are not controlling the hand only by using the material of the glove, but by actually gripping the hand of the opponent. It is legal to hold onto your own gloves or shorts.”
Amorim denied any wrongdoing when she spoke with MMA Junkie during her post-fight news conference minutes after the finish.
“She was saying that I was holding the gloves or something and she was in the middle of the transition, but I wasn’t,” Amorim said. “They say keep going – don’t stop. There’s no holding, and I kept going to try the submission. We didn’t exchange any words. I knew she was having her moment (to protest), and that’s fine.
“I was holding over the the gloves, together. My corner said they looked at (the replay), and I wasn’t. I heard the commission was taking a look and they said it was fine and nothing was holding. So for me, it’s fine. I have a clear conscience. I did the right thing.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 242.
