‘Criminal’ KO of 390lbs Zuluzinho After Referee’s ‘Bullsh*t’ Leaves UFC Legend & Fans Disgusted

The rules of MMA in Russia are different from the rules that UFC fans are used to. What’s also worth knowing is that it’s in the evolving stage, thus, every match might have a new set of rules to follow.

The public is not always in support of some rules because it affects the fight and its outcome. 

A recent example of the same is a bout between Zuluzinho and Petr Romankevich, which took place at heavyweight. Zuluzinho, who stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 350.5 pounds, had the clear size advantage.

How the fight between Zuluzinho and Romankevich played out

The fight started off with a short feeling-out process before Zuluzinho took down Romankevich. “Zulu” gained the mount and was threatening submission. The Brazilian almost had an Americana locked in; however, from out of nowhere, the referee stepped in and stood both fighters up.

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On the feet, the Russian landed a perfect head kick and put Zuluzinho to sleep with the follow-up punches. 

Fans react to the brutal KO after questionable standup

The public was infuriated with the referee’s decision to separate the fighters. They took to the comment section and shared their dissent.

•”Some BS”

•”That’s f*cking bullshit”

•”What in the actual f*ck?! The ref needs to find another job after this.”

•”That’s criminal”

•”He literally had a keylock in that’s horrible”

•”Damn. That was probably the worst stand-up I have ever seen. Zuluzhino was 2 seconds away from a sub. The ref had money on this one.”

Former UFC title contender, Antonio Silva, also commented on the fight. He took to his Instagram and gave it a big thumbs down. A fan in the comments mentioned the same incident which Big foot had to face. 

It said, “Big Foot Silva recently experienced a bad stand-up in Russia where he had a chance to stop his opponent”

The reason why the fighters were separated so early

One of the replies even clarified that new rules were implemented, therefore the fighters were stood up.

The rule said, “5 months ago AMC FN president Kamil Gadzhiev announced a new rule. Fighters are stood up after 1 minute of groundwork, regardless if there’s a submission in place or not. Terrible rule”

The MMA Scene in Russia is, for the lack of a better word, unconventional. Women fighting men, fighting with a blindfold on, boxing with a hand-tied, no particular weight division, and many more rules that might confuse a normal UFC fan.

However, while unconventional these types of fights to garner the public’s interest, and they do so. Although, sometimes it comes with a massive backlash.

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