Saturday May 7th saw Olympians MMA Featherweight standout Paul Reed return to the Swedish promotion The Zone FC,
Paul has become a favourite in Sweden and especially at The Zone after his destruction of Hamid Corasani earlier this year so when we were offered a Title fight for the vacant Featherweight title we had no hesitation in returning, Paul's opponent was Martin Svensen a 6'2 Swedish Featherweight ( who was recently featured in Dana whites blog where he was questioned about his enormity for a Featherweight )
who is very talented and a tough opponent and displayed these attributes on Saturday.
The fight was a very close affair with both fighters displaying Professionalism and athleticism at the highest level and with multiple exchanges and submission attempts it was very entertaining for all in attendance, However despite how close it may have been we felt that Paul had worked hard enough to secure a victory over the Swede and it was of course a shock when the announcer revealed that he had lost a split decision.
The Zone Fc is a great promotion and is run at the very highest level with fighters being a priority at all costs and it has been a true pleasure for everyone at Olympians MMA to have worked with the organisation and will be to continue working with them ( especially as the fans seem to love him out there ) However after Saturdays fight and leaving the Cage feeling dejected to say the least it soon became clear that not only all of the Olympians Team but many of the Swedish fans scored the fight as a victory for Paul when we were approached by throughout the night.
We do not take the decision of putting forward an official Protest to a decision lightly but with so many people from fans to other fighters approaching us we felt our opinion carried some weight on this occasion and after discovering certain points with the judging of the fight the decision was made that we should protest the decision.
We are looking for a suitable resolution to the matter whether it be turning over the decision or simply ruling a N/C and both fighters do it again from an equal starting point.
We can not stress enough how helpful everyone at The Zone FC has been throughout the experience and we certainly feel this matter bears no reflection to them as an organisation as they truly are at the top of European MMA and are making great leaps in establishing professionalism throughout the sport,
This is a simple Judging discrepancy and so the complaint lies with the SMMAF and we hope that the matter be resolved soon and we can continue to move forward !!
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