Tap Or No Tap?

A razor close fight. A ghost tap in the third round. What do you think happened?

After a nearly unheard of four weeks off for the UFC, there was a lot of excitement going into UFC Vegas 46. Yes, even with ten fights falling apart and the loss of backflipping maniac Michel Pereira. Alas, the card was a relatively lackluster affair with just two finishes across 12 fights. Main event? Fantastic. Prelims? Pass.

One bright spot on the main card was the hard fought battle between flyweights Brandon Royval and Rogerio Bontorin. But it wasn’t without controversy: coming into the final minutes of the fight, Royval caught Bontorin in a tight armbar … so tight that the Brazilian seemed to tap to the submission in the heat of the moment before managing to escape the hold.

The announcers saw it. Everyone watching on TV saw it. But the ref did not, and the fight continued to a decision with the phantom tap ultimately unaddressed by officials.

Take a look:

The moment caused a whole lot of confusion and consternation on Twitter, especially since the fight was so close and it looked like Royval needed a stoppage to avoid a L.

Fortunately we don’t have to get too bent out of shape because the judges saw things in favor of Royval via split decision. Two gave Brandon the first and third rounds while the dissenting judge gave Bontorin rounds one and two (which was how I saw it).

Honestly, it’s one of those fights that definitely could have gone either way … but given the controversy over the ghost tap, we’re glad it went to Royval.