Manny Tapia complains of premature stoppage

December 4, 2008 by Sam Caplan  

WEC bantamweight competitor Manny Tapia complained following his second round TKO loss to title holder Miguel Torres that the fight was stopped prematurely.

“I thought they called it too early,” said a visibly bruised Tapia during a Sherdog video interview. “I still felt good. I know he rocked me, like, twice — well, I didn’t feel rocked.”

Despite his critical assessment of the stoppage, Tapia was still willing to acknowledge that Torres had inflicted serious damage.

“He got me,” Tapia shrugged in acknowledgment. “They stopped it because I got this little cut right here on corner of my eye. I guess that’s dangerous?”

But Tapia would voice protests over the stoppage again later in the interview.

“People say he’s pound-for-pound the best in the world. So who better to lose to than him?,” Tapia asked rhetorically, before continuing, “I still don’t feel like I lost. They just stopped it. I didn’t lose — they stopped it. I don’t know why.”

During the interview, Tapia indicated that he planned to take some time off following the loss but that he has every intention of returning to the WEC’s bantamweight division.

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Sam Caplan is the founder and publisher of FiveOuncesOfPain.com. He is also a contributing writer for CBSSports.com and FIGHT! magazine.
Email this author | All posts by Sam Caplan

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Comments

15 Responses to “Manny Tapia complains of premature stoppage”

  1. mo on December 4th, 2008 12:07 pm

    me in the sack with my girl last nightn was an early stoppage. tapia got no right to complain. he got beat the hell up. torres is a bamf.

  2. Imbecile on December 4th, 2008 12:12 pm

    All due respect to Tapia, but he sounds a little bit like Dave Kaplan on TUF still clinging to the idea that he has never been knocked out after we all just saw his limp body on camera clearly having been KO’ed. With Tapia, it was a legit stoppage. I actually thought it could have been stopped sooner, when Torres dropped him for the second time. It just sounds like a lot of sour grapes, and doesn’t endear him to any fans by making excuses, saying he didn’t lose, and it just got stopped.

  3. ctownhood on December 4th, 2008 12:18 pm

    In his defense..he was still probably waking up during the interview ;)

  4. Jason G on December 4th, 2008 12:32 pm

    Maybe his definition of a ko is your brain turning to mashed potatoes.

  5. Guy Gaduois on December 4th, 2008 12:46 pm

    Did you ever notice how the credibility of a complaint/protest like this falls flat when there’s no way the loser can say “yeah, but you should see the other guy”?
    Did Torres even break a sweat in that beatdown? That was a masterful display of strking - it reminded me of BJ Penn bouncing his fists at will off of Sean Sherk’s noggin. Do not underestimate Mr. Torres’ striking, or overestimate your own. Miguel Torres is a very good mixed martial artist.

    Also, as much as he bugs me now, congratulations on Mir having an immediate label for that foward axe flip kick or whatever the hell he called Torres’ move. I thought he was doing an extreme breakdance video for a minute. That was a “wha?” moment for me.

  6. benjamink on December 4th, 2008 12:55 pm

    It did kind of make me sick-seeing his comments, but like a previous post said, he probably still had a bunch of adrenaline in his system, and the beating he took didn’t help anything either.

    remember he was undefeated, so this loss probably hurts real bad, and at that moment, he did not want to accept it.

    give him a pass for the time being. If he still complains months down the road..then let the tomatos fly.

    yours,

    benji

  7. Bad Monkey on December 4th, 2008 2:24 pm

    Didn’t get beat, huh? LOOK AT YOUR FACE, AMIGO!!!!

    Losing gracefully is as important as winning graciously.

  8. Chris on December 4th, 2008 2:28 pm

    I lost respect for this guy now, he got beat, bad, torres worked his ass with the jab all night, rocked him twice, dropped him and pounded him out, he was done, cut, bloody and beaten, he should shut up, you got beat, shut up. I hate when fighters cry like bitches, I didnt lose, they just stopped it.

  9. aimres on December 4th, 2008 2:50 pm

    It was not even a close fight. Shame on Tapia.

  10. Davey D on December 4th, 2008 3:05 pm

    The stoppage was just. Manny was losing his footing the whole time he was gettting rocked. Most folk’s would too. I guess he feel’s the need to pipe up a bit but it is unwarranted. Miguel would’ve pounded an even bigger gash had the fight been allowed to continue. Torres fought extremley smart last night, very impressive.

    Get well, Manny. You better get back on that horse when you’re healed and train even harder next time. Cheers!

  11. steve on December 4th, 2008 4:43 pm

    i actually remember seeing him complaining to the ref immediately following the stoppage. i could clearly see he never got knocked out, but the stoppage was 100% just.

  12. Rod on December 4th, 2008 4:55 pm

    Well then, I wish they would have let it continue so he did get knocked completely out. Torres jumped to Tapia’s left side and began the hammers. I didn’t see Tapia move his right hand up to block the side control move or the hammers. If you don’t protect yourself you are gonna have the match stopped. Fighter safety first. That and Tapia was out fought in every aspect.

  13. tallsforeverybody on December 4th, 2008 7:06 pm

    If by early Manny means that he was still breathing then sure, I’ll agree.

    Dude got schooled by Torres.

    Miguel is in a whole different league.

  14. Rich S. on December 4th, 2008 9:04 pm

    well,
    first and he was taking unanswered shots to the face..
    then,
    his arms went limp and hit the canvas, and he continued to take unanswered blows to the face..

    i’ve seen many early stoppages..
    and i hate them when they happen..

    but Manny was completely unconcious when the fight was stopped..

  15. Mr.PIBB on December 5th, 2008 3:31 am

    i don’t think he was unconcious at all. I think he was just resting his eyes.

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