UFC women’s strawweight Randa Markos questioned her opponent Luana Pinheiro for not continuing after an illegal upkick at UFC Vegas 25.
Pinheiro and Markos met in the headliner of the UFC Vegas 25 preliminary card. Right from the start of the fight, Pinheiro was controlling where the action took place with her grappling skills as she slammed Markos to the mat multiple times. It is also worth noting there was a nasty eye poke where the referee and doctor took a closer look at stopping the fight. In the end, the fight continued, but unfortunately for Markos, it ended very soon after that after she landed an illegal upkick that appeared to knock Pinheiro out.
Immediately, UFC commentators Michael Bisping and Paul Felder questioned if the shot was enough of a blow to knock Pinheiro out, and many fans online took to social media to say she was faking it. However, referee Mark Smith deemed it a DQ loss for Markos due to an intentional illegal blow. Two days later and now Markos is speaking out against Pinheiro.
Markos: I’ve been in the fight game for a while now. I’ve never intentionally thrown a illegal blow. It’s a fight, sh*t is bound to happen. I took three eye pokes (requiring stitches and loss of vision) and never thought for a second that I wasn’t going to continue. I had such a good camp training with @travislutter, @cdpowertrain and @adams.justin1 in Texas and was ready to showcase my skills for the greatest fight promotion in the world. Yes my foot grazed her but that my opponents Inability to continue seemed a bit oversold and suspect. I let her know after the eye poke that I wasn’t leaving that cage without a win and she stole that from me. I’m excited about whatever is next. I have a tone of heart in me that needs to be let out. Thank you to everyone that helped me with this camp. I love you all and I’ll be back soon #ufc #quietstorm #mma #easywayout #littlebitch
Do you think Luana Pinheiro should have continued after the illegal upkick from Randa Markos in their fight at UFC Vegas 25?