“What Was Herb Looking at?” – Official Under Fire After Nasty Injury as Kevin Holland Snaps Michal Oleksiejczuk’s Arm at UFC 302

UFC 302 delivered a shocker as Kevin Holland, defeated the Polish mixed martial artist, Michal Oleksiejczuk, with an armbar in the very first round. The welterweight star who came with 25 wins and 11 losses under his belt claimed a phenomenal victory. But it was Oleksiejczuk who won the people’s hearts, but it came with a broken arm. The armbar had Oleksiejczuk in immense pain as his arm snapped at the elbow. Yet, he wasn’t ready to tap out. Needless to say, the referee, Herb Dean, faced some strong backlash from the MMA community.

‘Trailblazer’ was coming out of a 2-fight losing streak against Michael ‘Venom’ Page and Jack Della Maddalena. He was indeed looking for a victory to turn his story into a win. On the other side of the corner, ‘Hussar’ was on a 1-fight losing streak with his last bout against Michel Pereira resulting in a loss by rear naked choke. Nevertheless, Oleksiejczuk took on the fight on short notice and didn’t fail to impress the fight fans.

With 19 wins and 7 losses under his belt, Oleksiejczuk came up with a plan to knock Holland out and force Holland to face him in the wrestling realm. But Holland took advantage of his higher reach and landed a few blows on the Polish fighter. But it was Oleksiejczuk who seemingly dominated the Octagon. Within moments a punch made Holland stumble but he soon recovered and caught Oleksiejczuk in an armbar. 

‘Hussar’ showed immense bravery and did not want to call it quits. It unfortunately led to an injury. His arm dislocated and possibly snapped. And that was when Oleksiejczuk tapped out, letting Holland have his win.

The moment when ‘Big Mouth’ seemingly broke Oleksiejczuk’s arm, the world of mixed martial arts went into a frenzy. As soon as the scenes crossed the threshold of Instagram, the fight fans took over the comments section and expressed themselves. But most of the UFC fans had nothing but heat for the referee, for not stopping the fight before Oleksiejczuk’s arm gave way. Here is what the fans had to say.

Fans react to Kevin Holland’s victory over Michel Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302

Without a doubt, Oleksiejczuk’s resilience won over the fight fans. However, the referee came under attack for not stopping the fight a bit earlier and preventing the injury. The famed MMA reporter, Ariel Helwani took to X and expressed his views on the Dean’s decision, saying, “What was Herb looking at?”

Another account on X tweeted, “We can’t have refs stopping fights when the fighter is trying to work through it. Think that was a bad one by Herb #Ufc302” But the fans on Instagram were not turning down their brutality. But their admiration for ‘Hussar’ was palpable. 

“Crazy that Oleksiejczuk tried to protest the stoppage like his arm didn’t break and then he tapped,” one fan wrote. Another fan commented, “The armband was nasty nasty but crowd though when he went to Double D? Insane.” 

But the IG fans were also wondering about the stoppage. ‘good stoppage the arm was about to snap”, read one comment, while another read, “how do you stop a match when the guy hasn’t tapped?”

Nevertheless, Holland retained the respect that he had previously earned. One fan wrote, “This dude got knocked down and went for an arm bar and snapped this guys arm 💀 wild a** fight!” Another fan commented, “Made my arm hurt fu*k 🔥🙌👏 love seeing a Kevin Holland fight!!!!”

What do you think of the fight between Oleksiejczuk and Holland? Did you successfully predict the winner of the bout? Let us know in the comments down below.