What about Eckerlin and the groin strike? Referee Touš explained how he made his decision and why he didn’t use video

We won’t see that kind of atmosphere at MMA anymore. Christian Eckerlin was truly at home at the Oktagon tournament in Frankfurt. The famous Festhalle did not fall down. His win, however, is a source of embarrassment as his (un)simulation and (un)strike to the groin are discussed. How did the referee Pavel Touš, who was in the cage during the fight, assess the situation?

Christian Eckerlin is probably the biggest star of German MMA. At least with the fans, he certainly is, which was evident during the atmosphere at OKTAGON 33. Already at his entrance it was a wonder that the hall did not fall down. Let alone during the fight, which the German fighter eventually won.

His victory, however, has a bitter aftertaste. It is still being debated whether he should have lost by KO when his opponent hit him with a knee right on the liver, after which Eckerlin went down and the fight was stopped due to an illegal below-the-waist punch.

Pavel Touš, who was in the cage as a referee at the time, garnered huge criticism along with Eckerlin. The Czech referee commented on the situation in the MMA Flight Around the World podcast.

“I’ve seen the video footage. I was just approaching the fighters and I saw it from above. The knee was hidden behind Eckerlin’s body. When he got the bomb, he folded up and got caught on his balls from his stomach, turned on his side and I slipped. I made the mistake of not reacting right away when I stopped the fight,” Touche began his explanation.

Eckerlin claimed all along, according to Touche, that he got hit in the groin. And when he stopped the fight, he went to ask the scoring officials how they saw the situation. “Honza Vobornik told me it was a clean knee, the other two said it was a low blow,” he revealed the view of his colleagues.

There was a lot of discussion, among other things, as to why then Touche didn’t use the video available to Octagon. The reason is simple: “You can only use the video when the fight is over and you can’t restart it. If I did use video, from my perspective, from the videos I’ve seen, it still doesn’t look like it’s pure balls. It would be either, or, you couldn’t go back.”

What no one could question anymore, however, was the second blow to the groin, which was indeed as clean as it could be. Touche admitted that Eckerlin was gagging, starting to vomit, and was in a really bad way. He said if he hadn’t wrestled in Frankfurt, he definitely wouldn’t have continued the fight.

Eckerlin’s opponent filed a protest with the GEMMAF, the German MMA federation, after the fight. The procedure will be that seven people who weren’t at the tournament will judge how what actually went down. Touche said it could be clear in a fortnight.

If Oliveira’s protest is upheld, Eckerlin would lose his win and the fight would end in a no decision.

Source: MMA Around the World