Tag: megan anderson

Despite a rather bizzare and unfortunate turn of events, Megan Anderson defeated Cat Zingano at UFC 232.

Anderson was the Invicta FC featherweight championship before relinqushing that tile to join the UFC. There was a ton of hype surrounding Anderson, and for good reason.

Standing at an even six feet, Anderson is a natural 145-pound fighter; perhaps one of only three on the entire UFC roster.

Holly Holm would welcome Anderson to the Octagon at UFC 225. It was a learning experience for the Australian, who now makes her home in the States.

Heading into UFC 232, Anderson vs Zingano looked to be a must-see affair. It turned out to be just that, but for reasons other than fighting unfortunelyy.

Just 61 seconds into their fight and Zingano accidently caught Anderson’s big toe right in the eye. The injury looked as painful as it sounds.

Anderson received a bunch of unwarranted scrutiny from fans on social media.

“There was a significant amount of hate,” Anderson told Luke Thomas on The MMA Hour on Monday. “I got a lot of, ‘You’re a piece of sh*t,’ all this kind of stuff. I got, ‘You need to cut your toenails or your nasty ass nails’ and sh*t like this. Anyone who’s in the business knows that they check you two times before you even go out and then they check you at the cage so I feel like if something was wrong they would have told me the three freakin’ times that they checked me and they were just like, ‘You’re all good, you’re fine.’

“I got, ‘That’s not a win, you shouldn’t be proud of that.’ Well, that’s not my decision. I threw a legal blow that happened to land in a weird spot and I got the win from that. A win is a win. And if Cat wants to run it back I’m happy to give it to her, it’s not a problem, but at the end of the day I have that win on my record and I put in a lot of hard work and a lot of time into that and — no matter what people on the internet say — I’m going to be proud of that performance.

“If you watched any of my fights, that combination that I threw is very common and I have landed that a lot of times and I have finished fights with that combination. So if Cat didn’t have her hands up, then she didn’t really do her homework very well because that’s a very common combination for me to throw.”

Anyone that is accusing Anderson of “fighting dirty” perhaps has never seen her previous fights. The combo that was used to end the Zingano fight is a closing sequence that Anderson has used several times in past wins, all controversy free.

“I’ve had that move executed three times now just finishing fights, so I obviously wasn’t aiming for her eyeball,” Anderson said. “I was getting a lot of shit for that, ‘You’re a dirty cheater’ and stuff like that.

“I’m pretty sure anyone who is in the sport knows that when you kick someone, you aim for someone’s face, the last thing you’re thinking about is trying to poke them in the friggin’ eyeball. The rules is what it is, but they want a rematch, we’re more than happy to give it to them if that’s what they want.”

Veteran referee Marc Goddard was the third man in the Octagon that night, and according to Anderson, he did the right thing. Still, Anderson was hoping to show off some newfound skills if the fight had gone longer.

“I’d never seen anything like that. It definitely was strange,” Anderson said. “Marc Goddard is one of the best in the business and when it all happened I looked to him to see what he was going to do because the way that Cat kind of looked away, I knew something wasn’t right, I knew she was hurt, I didn’t know what had happened.

“I kind of turned to him and he was telling her, ‘The fight’s still going, you’ve got to fight back. Got to fight back.’ And I was like, okay, I’m gonna do my job. I can’t exactly just stop if he’s telling me to keep going so it’s unfortunate circumstances. I really feel like I wanted to showcase a lot more of what I’m capable of. But a win is a win. And we’re happy to finally get that win in the UFC and I’m glad that Cat’s gonna be okay.”

The post Megan Anderson More Than ‘Happy’ To Rematch Cat Zingano appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Megan Anderson picked up one of the most awkward TKO victories you’ll ever see this past weekend (Sat. December 29, 2018) at UFC 232.

Anderson picked up a first-round TKO win over former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano. After throwing a high kick that grazed Zingano’s eyelid, Zingano was unable to open her eye again. The referee didn’t stop the fight immediately. So after a few shots to the body, referee Marc Goddard stepped in to stop the action.

There has been a lot of ridiculous criticism towards Anderson on social media for accepting a win given the circumstances. Speaking to MMA Junkie after the fight, Anderson defended her TKO victory over Zingano:

“I’m just trying to do my job and Marc is there to – for both of us – to make sure that he puts our safety first,” Anderson said. “I can’t control what she does and I did my job and I finished my fight. And, yes, it is a little bit controversial, but you can punch people in the eye.

“You can knee them, all those kind of stuff.… I can’t let anybody else dictate how I feel about a win because, at the end of the day, I have put in the hard work. I guess it wasn’t the most, I guess, clean-cut finish, but it is what it is.”

She also said she’s more than willing to run it back with “Alpha” if she’d like:

“And we’re happy to give the fight back, we’re happy for that fight again if people feel like I need to prove that I’m one of the best in the world and this division. But, if not, let’s go to the next challenge.”

Former MMA referee and current Bellator MMA commentator, John McCarthy, offered an explanation for the whole situation. A fan on Twitter asked him why toes to the eye are treated different from finger pokes to the eye. He offered the following explanation:

“You punch with a closed fist. If you sustain an eye injury based upon a legal punch the eye injury could lead to you losing the fight via TKO. A fighter can not control toes in the same fashion they can fingers. That’s why we do not call toe pokes to the eye.”

You punch with a closed fist. If you sustain an eye injury based upon a legal punch the eye injury could lead to you losing the fight via TKO. A fighter can not control toes in the same fashion they can fingers. That’s why we do not call toe pokes to the eye #AskBJM https://t.co/GVjEUXVEhd

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) December 30, 2018

The post Megan Anderson Defends Bizarre TKO Win Over Cat Zingano At UFC 232 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.