Nate Diaz’s cutman, Jacob “Stitch” Duran, says he has no regrets about stopping the Diaz vs. Mike Perry fight between rounds, revealing Diaz suffered 15 staples and 20 stitches combined and had broken a finger during the bout.
Duran spoke to MMA Junkie Radio on Monday, explaining the sequence of events that led to his decision to call off the fight before the third round at MVP MMA 1.
He ended up with 15 staples, 20 stitches all together. He was beat up. He was too strong for him. I always look at it as a judge, and at that point, he was getting his ass whooped. Mike was just too strong, too aggressive and he was working him. Then, Nate broke his finger right about here. He said, ‘I couldn’t do nothing.’ The cuts were so big here, it kept pulsating. It kept going and then his nose kept bleeding. It was the sign of maybe a broken nose. I told Nate, ‘I’m going to have the doctor stop the fight, man.’ I said, ‘It’s too much blood and you keep bleeding.’ The referee said, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ I said, ‘No, no, no. He’s not going out.'
The crowd at Intuit Dome booed the stoppage. Duran said what mattered most was that Diaz himself understood and expressed his gratitude.
Nate thanked me. He said, ‘Thanks.’ I said, ‘Of course.’ I was there to take care of him. That was a proper move. The thing about it is he said he couldn’t see. That’s always No. 1. It wasn’t a hard decision to make. He had blood everywhere. My job is to protect the fighter. That’s exactly what I did with Nate. At the end, when we were saying goodbye, he gives me a hug, ‘I love you.’ His dad was there. He thanked me. So of course I did the right thing. No question about it.
Duran also revealed he received a message of support from boxing legend Marco Antonio Barrera.
You know what’s cool? I got a message from Marco Antonio Barrera from Guadalajara. He thanked me. He said great job. I got a lot of compliments from guys within the industry. They understand. My only job is to give that guy one more round and if he can’t go one more round, to take care of him. So I’m glad I was there for Nate.