You can say this about Michal Oleksiejczuk after UFC 302: he doesn’t give up easily. Possibly to his detriment.
The final fight before the co-main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, saw a strange first-round finish between the Polish fighter and UFC veteran Kevin Holland, with Holland emerging victorious via submission.
Oleksiejczuk landed what looked like a fight-changing blow, leveling Holland with a chance to end the fight on the ground. He jumped, but left his right arm too close to Holland, who grabbed it for an inescapable armbar.
Oleksiejczuk tried to escape, but ended up on the canvas and Holland squeezed his arm back. Anyone familiar with MMA knows how that can end, but Oleksiejczuk refused to tap. Even after his arm gave way in an apparent dislocation or complete break.
Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight shortly after, a decision Oleksiejczuk immediately protested despite his right arm no longer functioning. You can watch the video of the ending here, but keep in mind that it is not for the squeamish.
“The guy hit me with a good shot, somehow we ended up on the ground, he left his arm too far in. You know what they say, too far out or too far in,” Holland said after the fight.
“Just like in a normal jiu-jitsu class, I was trying not to push myself too hard and then I realized he wasn’t going to tap, so I hugged him a couple of times. But overall, Chihuahua took out the pitbull thence”. “.
It was an impressive sequence of events worth seeing, even among MMA fighters. Randy Brown, who won the fight to open the main card, watched the fight with the media and urged Oleksiejczuk to surrender.
“Oh my god. Kevin Holland has an armbar, about to break that shit. Please, just touch. Just touch.”
Randy Brown reacts to Holland’s twisted arm in #UFC302 pic.twitter.com/fCzg7Ciu9K
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) June 2, 2024
Oddly enough, this wouldn’t be the first time a fighter has gotten mad at Dean for stopping a fight in the first round due to a broken arm.
At UFC 48 20 years ago, Dean stopped a heavyweight title fight between Frank Mir and Tim Sylvia after clearly seeing Sylvia’s arm break. Sylvia repeatedly protested the decision, even after the ring doctor evaluated the arm and agreed with Dean’s decision.
X-rays later showed that Sylvia’s arm was severely broken, resulting in a several-month layoff. Later, Sylvia admitted that she knew her arm was broken and He said Dean saved his career by intervening when he did..
We’ll see if Oleksiejczuk’s arm is equally damaged and if he is equally grateful. No one ever becomes an MMA referee to have fighters like them.