Ion Cutelaba (photo via UFC / YouTube)

By FCF Staff

After losing his fight with Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Norfolk, Ion Cutelaba is insisting that what led up to the controversial stoppage, was all part of his game plan.

Both light-heavyweights came out firing heavy strikes, and moments later, Cutelaba began to stagger. While Ankalaev didn’t appear to land any substantive shots after that, Cutelaba continued to stagger around, while winging back shots of his own. Referee Kevin MacDonald, however, apparently concluded that Cutelaba was in serious trouble and stopped the fight.

Cutelaba immediately protested the stoppage, and afterward, he claimed playing possum was party of his strategy (quotes via MMA Fighting):

”When it’s two fighters on this level and they came here to fight and show the world a good fight, it doesn’t matter, one round, three rounds, 40 seconds – let them fight,” Cutelaba said backstage at Chartway Arena, which hosted Saturday’s event in Norfolk, Va. “That referee, he doesn’t know how to do that. They have to (have) another referee to control this kind of fight.”

”I came all the way from Moldova, 14 or 15, to show the world I am the best, and the referee didn’t leave me to fight,” he said. “Every (strike) that my opponent did, I controlled it. When the referee stopped the fight, I was countering. This was a part of the game plan, and the referee thought I fell. But that was part of the game plan.

”When they stopped it, I was fighting him.”

With the loss, Cutelaba’s record now stands at 15-5. Ankalaev moved his record to 13-1.