“That’s a bad stop.”
Joe Rogan cried out those words shortly after Dan Ige cleared up the barrage of Hammer Fisting on Shawn Woodson in the back of the third round at UFC 314. The end was looking for despair, looking for some hard shots and Woodson blown away, before the successor eats numerous punches in a row before it looks good enough.
After he came behind the scenes, Ige heard there was some controversy in the fight with reporters, saying that the commentator team praised his performance, but ultimately criticized the judge for stopping the fight. Looking back now, Ige admits that he felt nothing at the moment except love and worship, but he still gets stabbed to hear how the stop is portrayed during the air.
“As far as the moment is concerned, I feel like it didn’t take away my moment,” Ige told MMA Fighting. “I was there, REF stopped the fight, the crowd exploded and accepted it. Is it like the press room, the media they nurtured it, the controversy, and this, and I’m a controversy? Then I read the comments online, you hear the comments, and they definitely play a big role in it.
“They’re just saying things they’re watching right away. It takes a bit of a snatch from me, so it’s kind of awful. But again, I still won my record. I still have two checks.
The UFC Battle Broadcasting Team plays an important role in not only calling action, but also providing commentary on what’s going on before, during and after the battle.
Ige certainly doesn’t blame them for saying how they feel at the moment, but he also knows that fans often draw opinions based on that commentary.
“People hear that and it kind of shakes their own perspective,” Ige said. “It’s awful, but it’s their job and you judge anything you say, so it’s not an easy job. No one in the crowd complained, but there was definitely more people at home and online that said.”
Even when rewatching his fight for research, Ige finds himself viewing things differently thanks to comments made during the broadcast.
So, he is in fact why he prefers to turn down everything for himself, as it is almost impossible to allow commentary to drive a particular story.
“Even if you watch a movie and study a movie, you try to watch it without commentary,” Ige said. “Again, they’ll say something, and you automatically almost believe what they say. It’s part of your truth. It’s not even true. It’s the truth of someone else, or what they’re seeing now. I don’t know how to fix it.
He still has no problem with the umpire’s decision to stop the counterattack at UFC 314, but Ige definitely prefers a stronger finish. He has delivered a lot of them in his career and when he faces the Patricio Pitbull at UFC 318 on Saturday, he wants to offer another.
“No one in this sport can please,” Ige said. “That’s why I like walk-off ko because I have no doubt. But they don’t always come together, but hopefully we can erase it all.”
As far as his fight goes this weekend, Ige is excited to face sports legends like Pitbull.
Unfortunately, Pitbull received a rude reception in his Octagon debut after losing a biased decision to Jaa Rodriguez, which was considered a rather unpleasant performance.
Currently, Pitbull appears in his second UFC appearance at the age of 38, with a total of 1-3 resumes in the past four fights. This means that if Pitbull wants to ultimately chase UFC Gold, his back may already be against the wall.
“It’s just a company’s thinking, and this is a very important battle for him,” Ige said. “I don’t know what he’s paying financially, but I’m sure it’s a pretty good amount, if he’s going there and he really can’t afford to lose something else.
“But that’s not my problem. It’s something I should do too. I want to go out there, win the family table, keep on working and keep on working.