UFC light champion Frankie Edgar had a war with No. 1 contender Gray Maynard at UFC 125, surviving a vicious first round onslaught and battling back for a draw.
In a very captivating piece of news, Couch Potato reports that Mike Straka, the hosts of TapouT Radio, let fans know that one of Edgar’s cornermen was ready to throw in the towel during this epic showdown at 155 pounds.
Straka pointed out that by watching the fight on UFC.com, it could clearly be heard that Mark Henry, Edgar’s boxing coach, was calling for the towel to be thrown in as Maynard was unleashing a serious hurting on the champ in the first round.
Edgar did not try denying this claim, and actually addressed the issue head on.
“Yeah, I think that he was just getting a little overwhelmed, a little excited. You know, out of everybody else in my corner, no one felt that it was the issue.”
The assistant coach of the Rutgers University wrestling team added, “I don’t think anyone else was callin’ for that. I think Mark, he just puts so much into us and he’s so passionate that it kinda got a hold of him for that one round.”
When Straka jokingly asked “The Answer” if he “would have kicked his (Henry’s) ass” for throwing in the towel, Edgar did not seem to be in a joking mood.
“I would have. I told him afterwards when I heard he was calling for the towel, which I don’t think you can throw the towel in the UFC, which is a good thing. But I told him, ‘Dude, don’t you ever, ever throw the towel in.’”
This news is not very astonishing to hear from a champion that has as much heart as Frankie Edgar.
One interesting piece of discussion here comes from the official rules regarding to throwing in the towel.
UFC rules state that “the towel throw (or corner stoppage) is a foul that is usually punishable by the opposing fighter being awarded the win due to disqualification or a point deduction at the discretion of the referee.”
Given the rarity of the towel throw these days, it is highly unlikely any referee would award a fighter a disqualification victory as his opponent’s corner threw in the towel.
However, a point deduction does seem pretty reasonable, and that would have given Maynard an unprecedented 10-7 round at UFC 125.
This easily would have been the difference maker in whether or not a new UFC lightweight champion was crowned on New Year’s Day.
Bloody Elbow adds more food for thought when they point out that the Association of Boxing Commissions eliminated the towel throw as a foul in 2009.
This means a towel throw is again a legitimate corner stoppage in the sport of boxing.
While obviously MMA and boxing are two different animals, it is no secret that MMA organizations follow a lot of the same rules that boxing does.
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