UFC Fight Night 25: Shields out for a month, commission says verbal tap preceded TKO

All fighters who competed at "UFC Fight Night 25: Battle on the Bayou" received mandatory 7-day suspensions.

Those who lost by TKO got a bump to 30 days, as did Jake Shields, who was stopped by Jake Ellenberger in the event's headliner.

Alvin Topham, Chairman of the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission, today told MMAjunkie.com that a verbal submission occurred as the referee stepped in to stop Shields' bout.

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Just beat me to it. Glad I checked.

That's kind of odd, why would he keep trying to grapple with the ref if he verbally submitted?

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Posted by VILLIN

That's kind of odd, why would he keep trying to grapple with the ref if he verbally submitted?

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Agreed. That seems a bit fishy, especially given Shield's post fight comments.

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Posted by Bythar

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Posted by VILLIN

That's kind of odd, why would he keep trying to grapple with the ref if he verbally submitted?

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Agreed. That seems a bit fishy, especially given Shield's post fight comments.

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The article has been updated.






Alvin Topham, Chairman of the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission, today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that a verbal submission occurred as the referee stepped in to stop Shields' bout.

"It's my understanding that he verbally said he had enough, or something of that nature, and the referee stopped it," Topham said. "Of course, the referee was going to stop it anyway."

Ellenberger's win, which came just 53 seconds into the bout, is still categorized as a TKO on official records.

Reached today for comment, Shields called Topham's statement "100 percent untrue."

It really doesn't matter because the fight was going to be stopped anyway. What I don't get it why would the chairman say anything about it at all? It just seems petty to mention it, the guy lost, why add insult to it?

all I want to say is that Shields' post fight comments regarding "well if the ref wanted to stop the fight...I wanted to keep fighting" makes me dislike him more

be a man and accept defeat...if that were a street fight and there was no ref, you would be 6 feet under right now...shields always comes across as a little ____

When you're trying to complete a single on Kevin Mulholl and failing, you're probably a little bit dazed and will most likely not remember what was going on perfectly clearly. I'm inclined to believe the ref in this situation, although it really doesn't matter for any reason other than official records (whether the fight was a TKO or a submission), which is also the only reason I think that it was mentioned in the first place.

I understand in the post-fight interview when you've just woken up complaining about the stoppage, because you know you were still moving around and probably thought you were fine, but what I don't get is after the dust has settled and you re-watch yourself trying to tackle a referee and still argue that you were fine to continue.

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Posted by tallica62

all I want to say is that Shields' post fight comments regarding "well if the ref wanted to stop the fight...I wanted to keep fighting" makes me dislike him more

be a man and accept defeat...if that were a street fight and there was no ref, you would be 6 feet under right now...shields always comes across as a little ____

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You're hating today man. The last two posts I read by you were this one and the Mitrione thread.

if u reach watch right after the ref stops in and shields is trying to TD the REF then when he gets up, from reading his lips it looks like he ask "what happened" aka he was out

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Posted by Budgellism

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Posted by tallica62

all I want to say is that Shields' post fight comments regarding "well if the ref wanted to stop the fight...I wanted to keep fighting" makes me dislike him more

be a man and accept defeat...if that were a street fight and there was no ref, you would be 6 feet under right now...shields always comes across as a little ____

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You're hating today man. The last two posts I read by you were this one and the Mitrione thread.

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you're right...bad day at work :)

plus it's easy to be an internet troll and hide behind my screen while talking smack like im a big buff tough guy

I don't buy this.

Shields did not look like a man searching for a way out of the fight. He looked like he was dazed and confused and desperately searching for a way to stay in it.

Besides, if he actually did verbally tap, wouldn't they change the official result to a Submission Due to Strikes?