California Athletic Commission Denies Phumi Nkuta's Appeal Over Controversial Loss to Adriano Moraes

Phumi Nkuta's first professional loss still stands.

On Monday, Nkuta appeared before the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) for his appeal over a loss to Adriano Moraes back on the MVP MMA card in May. The fight ended with Moraes securing a rear naked choke that eventually put Nkuta to sleep, but replays showed the Brazilian maintained the submission after the final bell.

Nkuta's argument was that he didn't lose consciousness until after the final bell and therefore the submission should not count. Based on the scorecards, Nkuta was on his way to a victory if the fight actually went to a decision.

On the night of the fight, referee Herb Dean called Moraes the winner and additional officials reviewed the finish on replay, but ultimately the former ONE champion still got the victory.

"He does a good job taking the back, trapping the arm, great job on his part," Nkuta told MMA Fighting after the event. "Obviously, the choke happened. I heard the claps at 10 seconds, I'm fighting it with everything I have. I hear the bell and then I wake up. Soon as I wake up, I'm like there's no way I was knocked out. In my mind, I'm like I just heard the bell, what happened?

"You look at the instant replay, and he like pulled a Rousimar Palhares on me. It is what it is."

During testimony on Tuesday, CSAC executive director Andy Foster argued there simply wasn't enough definitive evidence to overturn the decision, especially after multiple officials reviewed the tape several times through instant replay and came to the same conclusion.

"I bet I've watched it 80 times," Foster said during the hearing. "We watched it over and over. I still don't have certainty on when he lost consciousness. When we don't have certainty on something, it has to be clear and convincing evidence if this commission is going to overturn a fight, just to be very clear."

In the end, the commission voted to deny the appeal and Nkuta's first professional loss still stands.

Source: MMA Fighting — read the original