Joel Alvarez defeated Marc Diakiese in a UFC London fight that ended controversially when Alvarez’s victory by D’arce choke appeared to follow an overlooked unintentional clash of heads, leading to reactions from fellow fighters on social media.
Joel Alvarez emerged victorious against Marc Diakiese at UFC London on Saturday, utilizing a compelling D’arce choke. However, this victory has not been without controversy. Alvarez applied this well-executed choke towards the closing moments of the second round and managed to make Diakiese surrender. Yet, the grappling clash that led to this occurrence began shortly after an overlooked unintentional head clash, which was missed by referee Dan Movahedi.
Various professional fighters took to social media to react to this contentious event, notably UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and Marc Diakiese himself. They shared thoughts on the incident, highlighting that such situations are indeed unfortunate for both the competitors. Aljamain Sterling wrote on his social media, “Sad for both guys. Should’ve at the minimum been a pause in the action. Too many weeks and money goes into these camps to not do the right thing by the athletes.”
Sterling didn’t shy away from criticizing the oversight and negligence, stating, “It’s almost like they group up and say, “let’s ignore it and pretend we had a chat”. Or “who’d you bet on? Ok so let’s leave it like this thing and break me off a piece.” He emphasized the necessity for a change in the verdict to a ‘No Contest’, to ensure consistency and fairness in the sport, as well as to remove the element of human bias. He continued, “If they don’t change that to a NC, that’s just foul and proves again that there is NO CONSISTENCY in our sport.”
Alvarez’s victory was also commented on by other fighters such as Billy Quarantillo, Alan Jouban, and Terrance McKinney. They congratulated Alvarez, but not without emphasizing the unfortunate occurrence of the headbutt. Quarantillo mentioned, “Alright fight are on!! Weird finish there with the head butt but dope submission,” while McKinney added, “Congrats to Alvarez but that head butt is unfortunate & they’re happening more and more.” Additionally, Jouban emphasized Diakiese’s potential defensive strategy by tweeting, “Diakiese was flattening out like what because it’s a darce defense. He just wasn’t able to stay flat.”