Bruno Silva won’t have a loss on his record erased after an appeal to have the result in his fight against Chris Weidman overturned was denied by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board.
Silva’s manager Bernardo Serale told MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz about the results of the appeal on Sunday after the commission informed them of the decision.
The Brazilian sought to have the technical decision overturned after a series of eye pokes played a part in the outcome of the fight at UFC Atlantic City. The fight initially ended via TKO after Weidman delivered a barrage of punches when Silva dropped to the canvas during an exchange on the feet.
Replays showed that a pair of eye pokes actually caused Silva to turn around and fall to the canvas in pain from the fouls but referee Gary Copeland didn’t realize what happened until it was already too late.
After reviewing the footage cage side, officials decided to turn to the judges’ scorecards to decide the fight rather than declare a no contest due to the eye pokes leading to the stoppage. With Weidman ahead on all the cards, he was declared the winner by technical decision.
An irate Silva filed the appeal hoping the commission would overturn the result of the fight to a no contest due to the illegal eye pokes, which directly led to the stoppage in the third round.
“I thought the referee was stopping it because of my eye, but then I saw [Weidman] celebrating,” Silva told MMA Fighting in March. “I was like, ‘No f*cking way this motherf*cker knocked me out. I was never knocked out in my career. I went back up so angry, telling the referee to look at the big screen. I wanted to beat him up, but I knew that would f*cK my career. I had to control myself there.”
Despite his feelings about the decision, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board ultimately sided with the result determined that night in Atlantic City so the loss on Silva’s record still stands.