Felice Herrig picked up her fourth straight win inside the UFC’s Octagon at UFC 218 last night (Sat. December 2, 2017) when she earned a split decision nod over Cortney Casey. At one point in the fight, the pair got so intense that they exchanged vulgar hand gestures that forced FS1 programming to cut from […]
Felice Herrig picked up her fourth straight win inside the UFC’s Octagon at UFC 218 last night (Sat. December 2, 2017) when she earned a split decision nod over Cortney Casey.
At one point in the fight, the pair got so intense that they exchanged vulgar hand gestures that forced FS1 programming to cut from the fight a few times. During a post-fight scrum, Herrig described the moment as going “full-on Nick Diaz,” and claimed that things actually got so intense that Casey flung a booger her way:
“Oh we both went full-on Nick Diaz, or whatever (laughs),” Herrig said. “She was – she got a little upset because I got her with a shot and I saw it on her face. I don’t know, fighters get emotional – she flicked a booger at me, it was great. It’s entertaining for the fans. I like that, I like being in entertaining fights. I’m not mad at her. But it was cool. I was entertained by it. I thought it was entertaining.”
Herrig then claimed that it was a chunk of blood that was flung her way before joking about having a habit of having bodily fluids thrown on her:
“It was definitely blood,” Herrig said. “It was a big chunk of blood that Cortney flicked at me. And I don’t know, it might have hit me, it might have landed on me. Yes that’s my think, I always get bodily fluids thrown at me in fights. Usually you can’t intentionally throw blood, you can only throw it if it’s a chunk of blood, which means I must’ve done something to her nose.
“Nobody has ever done that to me. Like I said, I’m not really mad about it. I think most people would be mad, they’d think it’s like disrespectful. But we were in the heat of the moment, we were both cussing at each other. I saw it (a bloody booger chunk) on the canvas afterwards.”
When reporters asked Herrig about the “blood booger” once again, “Lil Bulldog” went into a bit more descriptive detail:
“It was a chunk – it was a booger chunk. It was a booger, blood chunk. Booger bludgeoning. It was chunky, that’s why she flicked it at me and it was laying on the floor. And I stepped over it. It was like a worm. Like it the water, in the pond, when it rains. Like that.”
Felice Herrig picked up her fourth straight win inside the UFC’s Octagon at UFC 218 last night (Sat. December 2, 2017) when she earned a split decision nod over Cortney Casey. At one point in the fight, the pair got so intense that they exchanged vulgar hand gestures that forced FS1 programming to cut from […]
Felice Herrig picked up her fourth straight win inside the UFC’s Octagon at UFC 218 last night (Sat. December 2, 2017) when she earned a split decision nod over Cortney Casey.
At one point in the fight, the pair got so intense that they exchanged vulgar hand gestures that forced FS1 programming to cut from the fight a few times. During a post-fight scrum, Herrig described the moment as going “full-on Nick Diaz,” and claimed that things actually got so intense that Casey flung a booger her way:
“Oh we both went full-on Nick Diaz, or whatever (laughs),” Herrig said. “She was – she got a little upset because I got her with a shot and I saw it on her face. I don’t know, fighters get emotional – she flicked a booger at me, it was great. It’s entertaining for the fans. I like that, I like being in entertaining fights. I’m not mad at her. But it was cool. I was entertained by it. I thought it was entertaining.”
Herrig then claimed that it was a chunk of blood that was flung her way before joking about having a habit of having bodily fluids thrown on her:
“It was definitely blood,” Herrig said. “It was a big chunk of blood that Cortney flicked at me. And I don’t know, it might have hit me, it might have landed on me. Yes that’s my think, I always get bodily fluids thrown at me in fights. Usually you can’t intentionally throw blood, you can only throw it if it’s a chunk of blood, which means I must’ve done something to her nose.
“Nobody has ever done that to me. Like I said, I’m not really mad about it. I think most people would be mad, they’d think it’s like disrespectful. But we were in the heat of the moment, we were both cussing at each other. I saw it (a bloody booger chunk) on the canvas afterwards.”
When reporters asked Herrig about the “blood booger” once again, “Lil Bulldog” went into a bit more descriptive detail:
“It was a chunk – it was a booger chunk. It was a booger, blood chunk. Booger bludgeoning. It was chunky, that’s why she flicked it at me and it was laying on the floor. And I stepped over it. It was like a worm. Like it the water, in the pond, when it rains. Like that.”
Aside from Ryan Bader’s dominant victory over Antonio Nogueira at this past Saturday’s (November 19, 2016) UFC Sao Paulo event, one of the biggest stories of the night was Claudia Gadelha’s controversial illegal head-kick to Cortney Casey. When the replay of the kick was shown in the arena, however, the Brazilian crowd showered Casey with
Aside from Ryan Bader’s dominant victory over Antonio Nogueira at this past Saturday’s (November 19, 2016) UFC Sao Paulo event, one of the biggest stories of the night was Claudia Gadelha’s controversial illegal head-kick to Cortney Casey.
When the replay of the kick was shown in the arena, however, the Brazilian crowd showered Casey with boo’s as it seemed that the kick never even hit her, but rather grazed her hair. Referee Fernando Portello did not take away a point, issue Gadelha a warning, but Casey did seem to be suffering from some damage.
Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission COO Cristiano Sampaio released a statement regarding the illegal kick, stating that he believes Casey “forged” her injury and called her actions “wrong and unsportsmanlike.” During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Casey shared her side of the actions that transpired inside the Octagon:
“I wasn’t thinking any of that,” she said. “In my head, I’m thinking this is a ‘no-contest.’ I’m not going to go out like that. That’s not me at all. As I’m reading all these things saying I was trying to get out of a fight, I was like, I was never in a fight to begin with. This wasn’t a fight. I came out completely unscathed, no problem other than the bump on my head [from the kick]. It wasn’t a fight. It was me getting taken down, me pressuring her, her shooting on me, her laying on me, doing nothing.
“I could fight tomorrow if they needed me to. Yeah, I lost 30-27 on the scorecards. But it wasn’t a fight. I wasn’t getting beaten up like [Antonio Rogerio] Nogueira. There was no need for me to try and get an out. And I wanted an out, then why would I tell the doctor I was fine to continue? That wasn’t going through my head at all.”
Casey compares the attack on her character similar to that of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, calling the ridicule she has been facing as of late ‘pathetic’:
“Never in a million years did I think that I’d go into Brazil and get as ridiculed as I did for something where I did nothing wrong,” she said.
“I can only imagine what Ronda [Rousey] goes through — like, the ridicule she goes through on a daily basis. It’s pretty pathetic. People that don’t even follow me going on my page just to say some shit, going out of their way. And I’m not even complaining. I’m not petitioning.”
After she took the illegal kick, Casey claimed that she was dazed and was trying to regain herself as the fight was already in the third round at the time. The only recollection she has of the incident was the doctor telling her that she could continue competing:
“Literally as soon as I stepped out of the cage, it was argument,” she said. “I really didn’t know what was going on when it happened. I knew I got hit in the head, and I was dazed a little bit. I was just trying to regain my composure because I knew it was the third round, and that’s kind of when we were implementing the game plan, drawing her into a brawl and trying to get her a little bit gassed. And then I got kicked in the head.
“The only thing I remember ever being said to me was the doctor coming in and saying, ‘you can continue,’ and I just said, ‘yes, I can continue.’ I heard my cornerman telling me, ‘take your five, take your five,’ and that was it.”
After the contest Casey says that Gadelha apologized to her for the kick, however, she continued to hear criticisms from the kick when she returned backstage:
“She apologized right away, like when we started the round again she apologized. After the fight, she came up to me, before they announced that she was the winner, she apologized to me,” she said.
“I went into the back, and normally the doctor’s pop over to check you out. Literally my gloves got cut off, the hand wraps got cut off, and the lady said, ‘here you’ve got 30 days if there’s any problem, sign here,’ and she left. That was it. Then I hear outside, as I’m waiting for my paperwork from the UFC to sign that, my check and stuff, I hear Robert and Tiago [Okamura] yelling back and forth in Portuguese to someone. And as I was leaving, they said, ‘she faked it, she faked it.’ The bump on my head was pretty big at that point. So I walked away, and the UFC interviewer was like, what happened?”
As for some thinking the kick landed on her hair, Casey doesn’t understand why everyone is getting so frustrated with her as she isn’t calling for any repercussions for the incident:
“The whole bun thing, it hit your hair, it hit this, it hit that — it’s my word against the media, against everyone,” she said. “I can only do so much.
“At the end of the day, I got kicked. I’m not asking for a point deduction, I was never saying that the fight should be overturned, none of that. So I don’t know why everyone is yelling at me, and blaming me, like I’m going out saying all this stuff. I haven’t said anything, other than I got kicked in the head.
“For people to question my character after all that, and then after them knowing that no one else wanted to take this fight against Gadelha, for them to tell me I was trying to get an out? It sucks.”
Did you see the controversial kick that has sparked so much controversy this week? Do you believe Casey exaggerated the kick?
After the contest Casey says that Gadelha apologized to her for the kick, however, she continued to hear criticisms from the kick when she returned backstage: