Click here to view the embedded video.
(Post-fight video of the incident showing the announcer name Franca the winner then change it to Kheder after talking to an XVT official.)
Last month, former UFC lightweight Hermes França (19-11) went to Costa Rica on Dec. 19 to fight Ferrid Kheder in the main event of an Xtreme Vale Tudo 5 event looking to end a four fight losing skid.
At the end of the fight he had his hand raised in victory, that was until an official from the promotion stepped in to declare Kheder the winner.
Mike Chiappetta, at MMAFighting.com, published an article Thursday morning recapping the entire incident, but I’ll provide a short breakdown for those not familiar with the incident.
I highly recommend checking out the article, it’s a bit of a long read but to fully understand the situation you need to read the whole article.
Basically Franca and his corner felt that he’d won the fight. The announcer named Franca the winner but the XVT official in the cage told the announcer to name Kheder as the winner.
Franca’s corner said they saw the decision card naming him as the winner despite the call and even spoke to two of the three judges, who all confirmed that they scored Franca the winner.
XVT officials refused to change the decision at the time and served Franca with his fifth straight loss.
After a lot of pressure since the incident, XVT officials have had the bout declared a no-contest and have offered Franca a rematch with Kheder. Their pitch does not sit well with Franca who has vowed to never fight for that promotion again and is campaigning to have the result changed to a victory in his name.
Franca has been posting notices on the Underground Forum board about the incident shortly after it took place looking for fan support to have the result changed.
On Wednesday night, Franca posted another update on the incident, offering up some gossip more than actual news. He posted this notice on the Underground Forums of this unsubstantiated rant from the XVT promoter Lu Dwyer’s Facebook page.
“THE GAME IS OVER”!!!! WITH REGARDS TO MY ‘XVT 5′ FIGHT CARD IN COSTA RICA AND COVERED ‘LIVE’ WORLD WIDE BY ‘SHERDOG’!! MY “PASSION AND HOBBY” IS THE MMA INDUSTRY AND “HELPING FINANCIALLY BURDENED” POTENTIALLY GREAT MMA FIGHTERS… NOT TO BE “CONFUSED”… WITH MY CORPORATION, TOTALLY NON-RELATED TO MMA!!! I AM A WELL “RESPECTED” P…ROFESSIONAL BUSINESSWOMAN IN MY TOWN… WHO “GIVES BACK” TO THE COMMUNITY AND HELPS OTHERS “LESS FORTUNATE”!! “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”!!! NOT “ONLY” WAS I AND MY PARTNER, FORMER OLYMPIC MEDALIST JUDOKA, SEVERAL TIMES AND BLACKBELT, BELLATOR, FERRID KHEDER… “SLANDERED” ALL OVER THE ‘WEBSITES’, ETC… ON MY “MAIN EVENT” BETWEEN HERMES FRANCA AND FERRID KHEDER… WHICH STARTED WITH ‘DAVE JANZEN’… WHO “CORNERED” HERMES FRANCA!!! I AM “NOT” THE JUDGE NOR REFEREE… TO HAVE “WARRANTED” SUCH “DISRESPECTFUL AND UNPROFESSIONAL” BEHAVIOR… WHICH “STARTED” ALL THIS CHAOS… BY POINTING HIS FINGER ON “MY” CHEST AND CALLING ME A “CROOK”, HAVING “FIXED” THE FIGHT, A “BLONDE BITCH” AND “OLD LADY”!!! YOU WANT TO SEE A “BLONDE BITCH” DAVE JANZEN?? “NEWS FLASH”… I CAN BE!!!! : ) THIS GOES TO ‘YOU’ , THE WEBSITES AND “REPORTERS”… “NOW”, CALLING MY CORPORATION FOR “COMMENT”!!!! “GOOGLE” MY NAME LU DWYER… AND LOOK AT ALL THE “DAMAGING UNFOUNDED GARBAGE” ALL YOU “IDIOTS” HAVE PRINTED, “DISTORTED” AND “TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT”… JUST TO MAKE YOURSELVES LOOK GOOD OVER YOUR COMPETITION!!!! I ALSO “WORKED IN MEDIA”… SO I KNOW HOW “YOU PLAY” YOUR GAME!!!! I “NEVER” STOOPED TO YOUR LEVEL AND MADE “HEADLINES AT SOMEONE ELSES EXPENSE”… AS YOU HAVE “MINE”!!!! YOU ‘ALL’ WANT A “COMMENT”?? “DON’T STIR THE HORNETS NEST MORE THAN YOU ALREADY HAVE”!!!! YOU WILL “ALL” HAVE THE “LARGEST LAWSUIT IN HISTORY” THROWN ON “ALL YOUR LAPS”!!!! I.E… “SLANDER, DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER, HARRASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION… YOU NAME IT!!!! PUT “THAT” UP YOUR A$$ AND SMOKE IT!!!! YOU WANT “BLOOD”?? GO TO “YOUR NEAREST BLOOD BANK”!!!! “NOT” A “THREAT”!! “IT’S A F@$#%@G PROMISE”!!!! “NO COMMENT”… MICHAEL CHIAPPETTA AND ALL THE REST!!!! MY “ONLY” COMMENTS WILL BE DIRECTED TO ALL “MY CORPORATE ATTORNEYS”!!!!
Now that a major News agency like FanHouse has picked up on the story, fans should expect something more substantial to happen concerning the incident.
I totally recommend reading Mike Chiappetta’s article “One Side Claims Fix, Other Cites Confusion in Controversial Decision” before reading Franca’s UG posts in order to give yourself a more informed view of the incident.