UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner admitted today that he is in discussion with the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission over a controversy surrounding the end of round 1 in the Gerald Harris vs. Maiqual Falcao fight.
At the end of that round Falcao had locked on a potentially match-ending choke that was eventually broken up by the horn that ended the round. The problem is that upon closer inspection the horn sounded a full seven seconds before the round should have ended thus saving Harris from what looked to be an inevitable submission loss.
Some have pointed out that the UFC removed their on air clock right before the mishap happened and say that that might indicate some sort of conspiracy theory. Of course the UFC always removes that clock with about 8 seconds remaining because their clock operates independently from that which is being used at ringside and they want to minimize any discrepancies.
Ratner went on to blame the mistake on basic human error, “There’s no conspiracy. In my days as the director of the Nevada commission, there was the rare instances of timekeeper errors.”
