Terrance McKinney doesn’t believe he got a fair shake at UFC Vegas 77 this past weekend (July 15, 2023).
“T-Wrecks” has been all action in his six-fight UFC career thus far (3-3, 13-6 overall). Unfortunately for McKinney, he’s now on a two-fight losing skid after a second round rear-naked choke loss against Nazim Sadykhov (watch highlights).
The 28-year-old Spokane, Washington native has accepted his defeat, but not without highlighting the illegal fence grabs in the embedded video above.
“Ok I lost but how many times do you get to put your fingers in the cage for leverage?” McKinney asked. “The ref ain’t suppose to just swat your hand away they’re suppose to warn you and then stand you up if you do it again. He did it the first round too
“The same ref that didn’t give me my mouthpiece back during the Dober fight too, what happened to no non sense!?” he concluded.
The referee for the fight, Keith Peterson, has been no stranger to controversy in recent years but earned the nickname “No-Nonsense” from UFC Commentator, Jon Anik, from his enforcement of the rules. McKinney started strong in the bout — as he typically does — only to fall victim to what he believes was the moment that changed everything in his opponent’s favor.
“Yah I would got take down and controlled him I clearly had the grappling advantage,” McKinney responded on Twitter when asked if he thought the fence grabs led to his defeat.
McKinney made an instant impact in his June 2021 UFC debut, knocking out Matt Frevola in only seven seconds (watch highlights). The Lightweight hopeful has yet to see the judges’ scorecards in his career.
For complete UFC Vegas 77: “Holm vs. Bueno Silva” results and play-by-play, click HERE.