It seems the majority of people feel TUF 12 semifinalist Nam Phan deserved the decision win over Leonard Garcia at the TUF 12 Finale this past Saturday. Even UFC President Dana White and Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer thought Phan deserved the decision.
And although Phan officially lost the bout, White awarded him his win bonus and told him he won and deserved it.
One person who did agree with the judges’ ruling however, was Garcia himself. He told MMAFighting.com he had watched the fight about 15 times and each time has the same thoughts:
“I think I outscored him in the first and third rounds. I think that in the third round, I was dead tired, but I kept firing and kept pressing the action, and I was able to get a takedown as well.”
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was critical of Garcia’s striking technique during the bout and made it very clear he thought Phan won the fight. This was none too pleasing to Garcia:
“It does piss me off, because I have nothing to do with the decision. I have nothing to do with that. The only thing I can control is what I do in the fight. … it bothers me to hear him say some of that stuff he said. It’s kind of a bad deal, but all it’s going to do is fire me up for the next one. He talks about certain things that I do in the fight, but that’s just my fighting style. I don’t fight Joe Rogan’s fighting style. I apologize to Joe Rogan, but I can’t fight his style. That’s not my style of fighting. What makes me who I am is my style of fighting, and people seem to enjoy it. I’ve won several Fight of the Night [bonuses] because of it, and I enjoy fighting that way. I think it’s something the fans deserve, is to see two guys give it their all. And that’s one thing I know about myself is I go out there and give it my all.”
Garcia goes on to point out that he took the fight on short notice and did not have time to work on his technique. He also said he would never take another short notice fight because it prevents him from giving the fans their money’s worth and giving his opponent the best Leonard Garcia possible.
Garcia believes Phan deserves a rematch and he believes he deserves a full training camp to fight him.
Then he’s delusional. There is no way he won the first round.
Just because you throw a whole bunch of hard punches
he says he took the fight on short notice, but wasn’t he already lined up to fight Tyler Toner on that card before the switch?
He took the Toner fight on three weeks notice THEN his opponent was switched to Phan with just two weeks to go…
But Phan probably had the exact same notice right?