It appeared that Erick Silva was on his way to his second dominating victory in the UFC after blasting through Carlo Prater in only 29 seconds.
However, after all was said and done, Prater was announced as the victor by way of disqualification after absorbing what were ruled as illegal blows from Silva to the back of the head.
Early in the fight, Silva caught Prater with a glancing right hand before following up with a staggering knee to the body that dropped Prater. Silva followed up with a flurry of hammerfists that appeared to strike the side of the head, before finishing Prater off with two right hands to the face as the referee intervened to stop the bout.
It appeared to be a routine TKO stoppage at that point, until referee Mario Yamasaki ruled the disqualification of Silve for the illegal blows. After watching the replay, it appeared that a couple of the shots may have indeed landed on the back of the head.
Yamasaki explained to Joe Rogan after the DQ announcement, that at full speed and from his view, the shots were illegal and justified the disqualification.
The controversial loss ends a nine-fight win streak for Silva who drops to 13-2 overall (1-1 UFC). Prater improves to 30-10-1, earning his first UFC victory.
The shots were illegal. .. Yes, they normally let a few strays land on the back of the head without calling it. but the one where Prater’s head was flush against the ground and he got hit squarely on the soft spot of the back of the skull is the only one that matters. I have been knocked out that way before… it is the only way I’ve ever been knocked out.