“I think judges felt a little bit of pressure because it was Mexican Independence Day… In a fair fight, in a fair competition, victory would be mine” – these words from UFC Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko from September 2023 have become relevant after the most recent UFC Mexico event. Did we just witness another robbery in Mexico? Did history repeat itself?

Every time the UFC touches down in Mexico, chaos isn’t far behind. This time, it was Vinc Pichel on the receiving end. Despite outstriking Rafa Garcia, Pichel walked away with a unanimous decision loss that left fans fuming. “The sky’s the limit,” Pichel had declared. But what good is the sky when bad decisions drag you back down to earth? With frustration in his eyes, all he could do was turn to the fans, hoping they’d raise their voices where the judges failed.

Taking to the X handle, the 42-year-old fighter pleaded to the fans, emphasizing that he has been robbed of his win against Rafa Garcia, “Someone call the cops I’ve been robbed!” He further shared a photo of their statistics and captioned it as, “Just goes to show you gotta get a finish to beat a Mexican in Mexico, even if he was born in the United States.” Vinc Pichel’s assessment made serious allegations without mincing words.

At UFC Mexico City, 42-year-old Vinc Pichel stepped in to replace Joaquim Silva, aiming to avoid a third consecutive loss against Rafa Garcia, who was eager to rebound from his previous defeat. Ahead of the fight, the veteran fighter claimed that he would slow down if his body slowed down: “When my body tells me it’s time to slow down, I’m going to slow down. But, like I said before, that’s probably not going to happen until you see a difference in me and the younger guys in the gym.”

Vinc Pichel believed he could easily take on Rafa Garcia; however, the Mexican fighter came well-prepared. Garcia pushed forward as he applied immense pressure in the opening rounds. ‘Gifted’ landed a 1-2 combination in the opening minute, which caught Vinc Pichel off-guard. Pichel tried to kick his way into Gracia’s guard, however, he was caught by the Mexican as he tried to turn it into a takedown attempt.

After a lackluster first round, Pichel came in strong in the following one. ‘From Hell’ appeared confident, clearly understanding his game plan. Garcia attempted to advance early in the round, but he was met with perfectly timed jabs from Vinc Pichel. ‘From Hell’ looked like he was giving tough competition to ‘Gifted’ with an evidently higher volume of output. The final round began with both fighters looking to land heavy strikes on one another.

The 42-year-old did connect his punches and forced Garcia to go on the backfoot, but the Mexican kept his composure and momentarily increased his pressure. After throwing several body shots, Garcia understood that his punches were affecting Pichel. Halfway through the round, ‘Gifted’ was the one who was doing better work. The 17-4 fighter understood that in order for him to clinch the battle, he would have to put pressure on Garcia. After struggling for a bit, Pichel stood his ground and even attempted a takedown of his own.

For the first time in this fight, Pichel was the one who had Garcia with his back to the fence. Well, despite the takedown attempt, ‘From Hell’ couldn’t take advantage of this situation.  As the final bell rang, Pichel was dealt a tough hand as Garcia’s hand was raised in his home ground. With this defeat, the fighter is currently riding a three-fight losing streak. So what’s next for ‘From Hell’? Let’s find out.

What’s next for Vinc Pichel after UFC Mexico?

With a career record of 14 victories and 4 defeats, Vinc Pichel has been competing under the UFC banner since 2012. The veteran fighter has established himself as one of the promotion’s most notable journeymen. However, at 42 years old and riding a three-fight losing streak after his UFC Mexico endeavor, is it time for him to hang up his gloves? Typically, the UFC gives an average fighter three opportunities to prove their worth before deciding their future. It seems Pichel’s time may have come.

While having a conversation with the UFC, the fighter emphasized that he would retire if his body gave up: “I’m thinking if I dropped to ‘45, I could easily compete with the Top 10 guys because it’d be beating up on little kids at that weight class. (Laughs) But my goal right now is honestly just to be able to support my family. And the ultimate goal is to buy some land, and I ultimately want a little farm. I’m going to be a little farmer Vinc out here, a little farmer from hell.”

With his career already in the doldrums, will the UFC send Vinc Pichel straight to farming? What are your thoughts on the hubbub? State your opinion in the comments below.