The Nevada State Athletic Commission said it will look into a controversial sequence of events that occurred during Saturday’s UFC fight between Max Rohskopf and Austin Hubbard.
Rohskopf, a previously undefeated prospect who accepted a short-notice fight against Hubbard five days ago, repeatedly told his chief cornerman, Robert Drysdale, to end the fight going into the third and final round.
Drysdale refused to heed his fighter’s pleas, however, and was ready to send Rohskopf back out.
Rohskopf was heard telling Drysdale to “call it” nine times during the one-minute rest period between rounds.
Ultimately, it was NSAC inspector Charvez Foger who called off the fight after Rohskopf said he was done fighting.
“That’s something we will take a look at,” NSAC executive director Bob Bennett told ESPN on Saturday night. “We might want to take disciplinary action on them. That doesn’t sound like they are looking out for a fighter. Obviously, he didn’t want to come out [and fight].”
Bennett said he sent a clip of the sequence to NSAC chief inspector Alex Ybarra.
While he couldn’t say whether the commission will discuss the sequence during an upcoming hearing, Bennett added, “It may come up in a future hearing. We will take an official look at it.”
Drysdale, an accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and a former UFC athlete who last competed in MMA in 2016, told ESPN he doesn’t regret his actions.
“I stand by what I did,” Drysdale told ESPN. “I expect excellence from the people I train because I love them. He wasn’t seriously hurt, and I felt he needed a mental push. I would expect the same from my coach.
“We will be back. Max is a champion.”
Asked whether Rohskopf is the kind of fighter who asks out and needs to be pushed, Drysdale told ESPN that wasn’t the case.
“Which is why I was pushing him,” he said. “That is the job of a coach, to push their fighters physically, technically and mentally. I did my job, and I have no regrets because I believe Max has potential to be one of the greats.”
Rohskopf’s manager, Brian Butler, declined ESPN’s request to speak to Rohskopf, who did not talk to the media after the fight.
“Max suffered from fatigue due to the short-notice weight cut combined with a preexisting turf toe injury and was not able to overcome both,” Butler said. “Didn’t think the turf toe would become an issue but combined with the fatigue he just could not keep going. He is going to take some time off to heal up.”
According to the judges’ scorecards, all three judges had the fight scored 20-17 for Hubbard heading into the third round, with every judge scoring the second round a 10-8 for Hubbard. Ultimately, Hubbard won via second-round TKO due to retirement.
Rohskopf, 25, entered his UFC debut fight with a 5-0 record, with all of his victories coming via finish in either the first or second round.