Jared Cannonier is blaming referee Jason Herzog for his loss at UFC Louisville.
Cannonier lost a controversial fourth-round knockout to Nassouddin Imavov in the middleweight main event last Saturday in Kentucky after Herzog stepped in to stop the bout as Cannonier tried to defend himself from Imavov's onslaught.
Cannonier was visibly staggering before the bout was stopped, but did not believe there was any immediate danger of the fight being stopped and was deeply disappointed with Herzog's call.
“When it happened, it was heartbreaking to say the least,” Cannonier said Monday. MMA Hour“It took me a long time to calm down. I had to rewatch the fight and relive everything all over again. It was heartbreaking. I feel like I was robbed of the opportunity to do something great in that moment. As a fighter, you win and you lose and you have to accept it. It's never fun and it's not easy every time.”
“I don't feel like I lost the match, but I felt like I was denied an opportunity to persevere, as I have in many of my matches, to persevere and try to do well in the match. It's heartbreaking.”
The loss was a disappointing blow for Cannonier, who was coming off consecutive wins over Marvin Vetri and Sean Strickland. Cannonier defeated Strickland in December 2022, but Strickland surprisingly won the middleweight title the following year. That win put Cannonier in good position to challenge for the championship himself, but now he's fallen back a few notches among the contenders.
Cannonier was leading on both judges' scorecards going into the fourth round, making the outcome of the bout even more difficult to accept.
“When he landed the punch on me, it was a good one,” Cannonier said. “It definitely threw me off balance, but I was definitely in recovery mode. I kept my cool, got some distance and then I was able to face him. Of course, he did everything he was supposed to do. He kept the pressure on, he tried to land some good offense to try to finish the fight, but I was still there. I had my hands up and covered most of those punches.”
“Especially at the end, I hit a counter attack. I thought it hit me well, a beautiful counter attack. And whatever happened next, I put my hands up to defend, and that's when the referee stepped in. Right after I hit the ball, it was definitely the worst time for the referee to step in. I was defending well, my eyes were clear, I was seeing my man, creating space. I was just trying to bounce back smartly from that. … It's really frustrating to rewatch every time. I've watched it seven or eight times and it's really frustrating every time.”
“Up until that point, I definitely felt like I had won,” he continued. “Nassoordin was gaining momentum late in the fight, but I was still victorious at that point. … I was robbed of an opportunity to hang in there, not to mention get two checks. The second check, the victory bonus check, maybe even that moment could have been Fight of the Night. If the fight had continued, that moment could have been Fight of the Night, a performance bonus. I feel like I was robbed, not only of myself, but of Nassoordin, of an opportunity for him to go into the fight with a clean finish, a clean win. Instead, we have a controversy that we have to deal with.”
Cannonier came into this important bout with a lot on his mind: Two weeks before the fight with Imavov, his wife suffered a miscarriage, and as if that wasn't enough of a blow, Cannonier also experienced a medical emergency during fight camp due to a severe allergic reaction.
The middleweight contender takes little solace in the fact that many people, from fans to peers to UFC staff, seem to agree that he was cheated on Saturday night.
“I think [UFC officials are] “Everybody agrees it was a bad stoppage, a bad stoppage,” Cannonier said. “I think the whole world agrees that the way that fight ended was the worst thing that could have happened that night, so yeah, everybody agrees.”
“As for compensation, I don't know, but I would like to petition for a rematch. The UFC is in Paris in September. I would like to go to Nassouddin's backyard and set that straight. He has home field advantage. Instead of the crowd chanting 'USA,' they'll chant 'USA,'French“Or how they say France in French, but I want to get it right.”
Herzog is widely respected as one of the best officials in the sport, but that doesn't matter to Cannonier, who feels he was wronged by the veteran official and suspects Herzog let the heat of the moment get the better of him and made a rash decision to stop the bout.
“I'm not gonna disparage Jason Herzog here, he's one of the best referees in the sport, but he certainly made a big mistake in this regard,” Cannonier said. “Specifically with me, this was a big mistake, a big mistake. Again, I don't think they're thinking about this. This is my career. My career was in his hands and he decided it wasn't worth the fight. But this is a fight.
“I think a lot of the umpires need to understand that they are going to get hit. Sometimes they get shaken up, but as they always say, when they are being smart and defending themselves, they need to step aside and let things happen. When there is a clear and concise reason to step in, like when they have their hands down and are getting hit over and over, or when they have their hands up and are getting hit in their guard and fighting back, that is not the time to step in. I don't know, maybe they need some training to numb their emotions and not get too excited in these moments.”
In Cannonier's mind, there's only one way to resolve this situation: an immediate rematch with Imavov, preferably without using Herzog as a third fighter in the cage, given the frustration he's feeling right now.
“I think it was a human error,” Cannonier said. “These things happen when you're in the middle of a scramble and tensions are high. It's unfortunate, but it's no excuse to have to live with it. So, to rectify that, I think the rematch in Paris will bring attention to this fight, this card, and that's a good thing for me. I don't think Nassouddin would agree, but I don't care what he thinks. I'm sure he has a shot at the title and he'd love to fight Sean Strickland and get revenge for that loss, but he didn't win that fight.
“The final sequence was me vs. Nassouddin vs. Jason Herzog, but it was Jason Herzog who got the finish in that fight, not Nassouddin. So if he wants that finish, if he wants to say he finished 'The Killer Gorilla' and actually finish me, then let's have a rematch in Paris. I'll go in your backyard and make it happen. That's what I want.”
