Stefan Struve got kicked low in Round 1 vs. Ben Rothwell in DC last Saturday, took nearly the full five minutes, then got kicked again in Round 2 and appeared to be considering calling it and taking the DQ NC. However, referee Dan Miragliotta took a point away from Rothwell, and controverially said he appeared ahead and fight on which he did, only to lose shortly there after.
However, Struve does not hold Miragliotta responsible.
"He said, 'You're probably ahead on the scorecards,' which I knew for sure especially after he took the point away" said Struve to Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. "I won the first round 10-9 easily, the second round I won 10-9 too and then after that deduction it was 10-8. Rothwell was down 20-17 at that point, so he had to go all out. The bad news for me is I was recovering, trying to get my breathing going again, and he was recovering while he was fresh."
"I don't hold any animosity against Ben, because I don't think he threw those kicks on purpose. I do think you are responsible for what you throw in that cage. Even if it wasn't intentional, they did their due and the fight changed completely in my opinion, after those shots. So even though I made the decision to continue, nine out of 10 fighters they'll continue, that's the thing. You get kind of screwed by the rules in my opinion, you need to be protected more."
"No real damage was done. The package is still a little sensitive. [The pain] moves around, like it goes into the abdomen, and goes into my kidneys when I move. It's crazy because you think when you get kicked in the package it hurts right there, but everything around it cramped up."
"I was flowing, I was--in my opinion--easily winning that fight. He wasn't hitting anything. He couldn't take me down. I think I looked as good as I ever did in there, so that's the things that I can control and next time I go in there, I'm going to look even better."
Struve was clear however that a rematch holds no interest, for obvious reasons.
Stefan Struve got kicked low in Round 1 vs. Ben Rothwell in DC last Saturday, took nearly the full five minutes, then got kicked again in Round 2 and appeared to be considering calling it and taking the DQ NC. However, referee Dan Miragliotta took a point away from Rothwell, and controverially said he appeared ahead and fight on which he did, only to lose shortly there after.
However, Struve does not hold Miragliotta responsible.
"He said, 'You're probably ahead on the scorecards,' which I knew for sure especially after he took the point away" said Struve to Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. "I won the first round 10-9 easily, the second round I won 10-9 too and then after that deduction it was 10-8. Rothwell was down 20-17 at that point, so he had to go all out. The bad news for me is I was recovering, trying to get my breathing going again, and he was recovering while he was fresh."
"I don't hold any animosity against Ben, because I don't think he threw those kicks on purpose. I do think you are responsible for what you throw in that cage. Even if it wasn't intentional, they did their due and the fight changed completely in my opinion, after those shots. So even though I made the decision to continue, nine out of 10 fighters they'll continue, that's the thing. You get kind of screwed by the rules in my opinion, you need to be protected more."
"No real damage was done. The package is still a little sensitive. [The pain] moves around, like it goes into the abdomen, and goes into my kidneys when I move. It's crazy because you think when you get kicked in the package it hurts right there, but everything around it cramped up."
"I was flowing, I was--in my opinion--easily winning that fight. He wasn't hitting anything. He couldn't take me down. I think I looked as good as I ever did in there, so that's the things that I can control and next time I go in there, I'm going to look even better."
Struve was clear however that a rematch holds no interest, for obvious reasons.
Ben is a savage. With that being said, those shots absolutely changed the fight. It sucks, but it happens sometimes. That's what makes MMA difficult and unpredictable.
i'm interested in this topic but am bailing on the thread after it took me a couple re-reads of that first paragraph just to figure out what OP was trying to say
