UFC flyweight Tim Elliott has shrugged off accusations of him being a cheater following his controversial win at UFC 272 over Tagir Ulanbekov.
Elliott scored the upset in his fight against the Dagestani fighter as he defeated Ulanbekov via unanimous decision. Yet the UFC veteran was hit with a blast of accusations in the aftermath with claims of him cheating.
The 35-year-old appeared to grab the gloves of his opponent several times throughout the fight as well as having landed two knees that could be deemed illegal. Elliott was even warned by the referee at one instance regarding glove grabbing.
This sparked outrage amongst Ulanbekov's team who felt hard done by to say the very least. UFC lightweight Islam Makachev, who cornered the fighter, took to Instagram in fury to highlight the alleged cheating of Elliott.
Makachev pointed out four separate incidents which occurred during the fight that he viewed as fouls and even went as far as to call Elliott a "dirty fighter". It appeared that Khabib was also furious at the time the alleged cheating occurred as he was shown on the broadcast visibly furious with how the fight was playing out.
Tim Elliott On Alleged Cheating: “It’s Not That Big Of A Deal”
Speaking on his controversial victory, Elliott told MMA Fighting that he thinks the only reason people are upset is because he won the fight.
“At the end of the day, if Tagir would’ve beat me, nobody would’ve said s*** about the glove grab, nobody would’ve said anything about the cheating. The only reason why people are upset about the glove grab s*** is because they lost. His team lost and it just makes them look bad. They wouldn’t have said anything about anything had they won, so it’s just one of those things.
“If you’ve ever been in a fight — and maybe I’m different — I’m trying to win, man. It’s the referee’s job to step in there if I’m doing something wrong. He was telling me all kinds of s***, he told me to let go of the glove and I let go of the glove. But for me, it’s not that big of a deal. I’m in there fist fighting. People are going on and on about the morality of the sport and the warrior spirit and all of that bulls***, but I don’t f****** care. I’m not a martial artist — I’m a fighter and this is my job. I’m trying to make money at this job, and that’s what I did [at UFC 272].”
Elliott did admit to grabbing his opponent's glove in the post-fight interview minutes after he collected his win at UFC 272. He claims that Dana White is unconcerned regarding the alleged cheating meaning Elliott sees no issue with it.
"For me, it’s not an issue. The bosses don’t care, Dana White doesn’t care, Mick Maynard — I’m good with all those guys. They had no problem cutting my checks, cheating or not cheating. I sleep fine at night and a lot more comfortably now that I have money in the bank.
“But it happens all the time and it’s going to happen. I was sparring today and I got poked in the eyes, I got my glove grabbed, I got head-butted, got scratched, and these are my friends, these are my teammates. It happens, and everybody knows that. I don’t know, even in basketball, if you slap the hand it’s part of the ball. You can’t tell me you’re not in there grabbing everything you can. I don’t want to get into any arguments about it, I’m just going out there trying to put on a show and trying to win.”
Despite the controversy, Elliott's win sees him bounce back into the winner's column following his defeat to Matheus Nicolau. He also rises to #11 in the official UFC flyweight rankings as he will now be eyeing up a fight against a top-ten opponent.
As for Ulanbekov, he is now 2-1 in the UFC with his loss to the American being the second of his career. He remains #15 in the UFC flyweight rankings while the Dagestani fighter's loss at UFC 272 was only the second defeat Khabib has ever suffered as a coach.
What do you make of Tim Elliott's confession to glove grabbing in his win over Ulanbekov?