UFC on ESPN 69 desk analyst team rip Rodolfo Bellato for 'Oscar performance' after foul

USA Today

7 hours ago

UFC on ESPN 69 desk analyst team rip Rodolfo Bellato for 'Oscar performance' after foul
The UFC on ESPN 69 desk analyst team of Anthony Smith, Stephen Thompson and Dan Hellie did not buy Rodolfo Bellato's reaction to Paul Craig's illegal upkick.
The final preliminary bout of UFC on ESPN 69 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta produced a strange outcome. In the final seconds of the opening round, Bellato (12-2-1 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC) attempted to land heavy ground and pound on Craig (17-9-1 MMA, 9-9-1 UFC) to leave a lasting impression for the judges. However, Bellato fell to a knee, and Craig connected with an illegal upkick, resulting in a no contest.
Bellato immediately looked toward the referee and threw his hands up as he was falling backward. Once Bellato hit the canvas, he remained motionless for a few seconds as if he was knocked out, before jumping back awake, seemingly believing the fight was still going on as the referee tried to get him to relax.
Smith wasn't buying it.
"Listen, guys: I'm going to be hard on Bellato: As the upkick happens, he looks to the referee to see if the referee realized that was illegal," Smith said on the UFC post-fight show. "... You see his eyes come to the referee to protest, and then realizes, 'Maybe I can get a free win.' Lays there, pretends he's unconscious, jolts back awake, allegedly. The referee comes over. That is a man that is awake. Pretends to grapple the referee as if he's unconscious, trying to get a cheap win. I've been doing this a long time, and I know what it looks like when somebody is faking it."
Hellie added, "This is WWE level stuff."
"Wonderboy" Thompson labeled Bellato's reaction as an "Oscar performance."
While his desk partners only offered short one-liners, Smith, who famously refused to take an easy way out when Jon Jones landed an illegal knee during their title fight at UFC 235, wasn't finished going in on the Brazilian light heavyweight and the situation as a whole.
"I feel really bad for Paul Craig," Smith said. "We're laughing about it and joking because it is so silly what happened here with Rodolfo Bellato and Paul Craig, but Paul Craig, although he did break the rules – we have to acknowledge that he did break the rules. It wasn't intentional, but that's a fight that seemingly could have continued. I'm not gonna pretend I'm in his head and I know how bad it actually did hurt, he definitely was not unconscious and hurt as bad as he was pretending, that's for sure."