In a bizarre finish, Manny Rodriguez was knocked out twice within a matter of seconds during his UFC on FX 6 fight with Ben Alloway. Well, sort of.
The weirdness began late in the first round, when Alloway threw a stinging low kick and Rodriguez crumpled to the mat. Referee Steve Perceval ran in, and waved his arms, calling a halt to the action. That perked up Rodriguez, who lifted up his head and asked, “What do you mean?” saying that the kick landed below the belt.
Perceval could be heard saying he didn’t see the kick land low, and was going to stop the action, calling it a TKO finish.
“I’ve called the fight,” he said. But then, he thought better of it and went to cageside to discuss his decision with an official. He asked the cageside official if it looked like an illegal strike and was told it did. He then asked if he could restart the fight, and was told he could.
So the TKO was taken off the board.
Within 20 seconds, it was over anyway, as Alloway crushed Rodriguez (9-4) with a powerful front kick, and then landed a few ground strikes to finish him off.
The official time of the finish was 4:57.
“F’n sweet,” Alloway said of the finish. The win improved him to 13-3.
“He’s an unbelievable grappler,” he said. “The plan was to keep it up. It didn’t go to plan in the first couple of minutes, but I got it on the feet. Whatever works.”