Al Turk Wants to Appeal ‘Cro Cop’ Loss
Jake Rossen Jun 15, 2009
Shrapnel from UFC 99 continues to spread: Mustapha al
Turk, who was clobbered at the hands of a returning Mirko “Cro
Cop” Filipovic, has made it clear that he intends to
appeal the outcome because of an inadvertent eye poke.
"… We don't think it’s right that it should be a TKO … the referee should have got onto the eye poke," said agent Ken Pavia. "Look at Henderson vs. Franklin at UFC 93 in Dublin. Franklin got a timeout when he got eye-poked.”
Fans -- and Filipovic himself -- assume the poke didn’t have any effect on the outcome of the bout, but that’s not exactly fair to Al Turk. We’ve seen fights where an athlete was on the brink of losing, then found some residual skill or gas to change his fortune. Who’s to say Al-Turk couldn’t have done the same thing?
It’s unlikely the UFC will bother with overturning the victory -- particularly since they acted as their own athletic commission while in Germany. It would set a bad precedent for every future unintentional foul to come. Al Turk should get a third fight, though. And at 0-2, that should be compensation enough.
"… We don't think it’s right that it should be a TKO … the referee should have got onto the eye poke," said agent Ken Pavia. "Look at Henderson vs. Franklin at UFC 93 in Dublin. Franklin got a timeout when he got eye-poked.”
Fans -- and Filipovic himself -- assume the poke didn’t have any effect on the outcome of the bout, but that’s not exactly fair to Al Turk. We’ve seen fights where an athlete was on the brink of losing, then found some residual skill or gas to change his fortune. Who’s to say Al-Turk couldn’t have done the same thing?
It’s unlikely the UFC will bother with overturning the victory -- particularly since they acted as their own athletic commission while in Germany. It would set a bad precedent for every future unintentional foul to come. Al Turk should get a third fight, though. And at 0-2, that should be compensation enough.
