Nevada uses instant replay for first time in UFC fight

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Earlier this year, the Nevada State Atrhletic Commission approved the use of instant replay in combat sports to determine questionable incidents.

Saturday night, replay was instituted for the first time, and unbeaten UFC light-heavyweight Jon Jones was saddled with his first loss because of it.

Jones had knocked down Matt Hamill in the first round, and proceeded to blast him with punches and elbows as referee Steve Mazzagatti looked on.

‘I hit him so many times, I didn’t understand why [the fight] wasn’t being stopped,’ Jones said. ‘I looked at [Mazzagatti] twice, like, ‘Are you going to stop this?’ ‘

But toward the end of his barrage, Jones struck Hamill with three downward elbows, state commission officer Keith Kizer said, and those types of blows aren’t allowed in mixed martial arts.

So Kizer escorted Mazzagatti to a flat-screen TV, and as he went to ask the referee what the verdict on the blows in question was, Mazzagatti said, ‘Disqualification.’

Hamill had suffered a ‘deep jagged cut on the bridge of the nose ... and was in no shape to continue,’ Kizer said. The rules, Kizer said, dictate that ‘any contributory effect of illegal blows causes disqualification.’

Despite the lopsided nature of the fight, a no-contest could only be declared if the blow(s) in question were accidental, Kizer said.

-- Lance Pugmire