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Winner speaks out over Lentz frustration

Nik Lentz earned a unanimous decision victory over Andre Winner © Getty Images

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Last week Dan Hardy sparked an international debate when he vented his frustrations towards the lay-and-pray contingency that is beginning to spread through MMA. The saga continued to brew at last Wednesday night's Fight Night when Cole Miller became the latest fighter to wade in and make public knowledge of his feelings on the matter.

After submitting Ross Pearson in Texas, Miller was joined in the Octagon by Joe Rogan, at which point he told the Austin crowd: "Nobody's trying to finish, [they] just control the clock - this ain't football ya know. People gotta come in here and fight."

After Hardy started this topic - in defence of team-mate Andre Winner - there were a few condescending snipes that suggested the real problem may be a lack of wrestling pedigree amongst UK fighters. As an American, and more importantly as an extremely high level grappler, Miller's comments give Hardy's argument some extra weight. As Miller stated, this isn't football and there is the very real possibility that spectacles, such as the Nik Lentz v Andre Winner UFC 118 Prelims Live matchup, could see people switching off rather than on.

Winner was quite literally clung to for the full fifteen minutes. He was completely smothered, unable to draw his opponent into a "fight" of any kind. This week the Team Rough House member spoke out and expressed the frustration he felt from that night in Boston.

"It's very hard to explain. I really didn't feel like I was in a fight," Winner told ESPN. "I came out to fight. Unfortunately my opponent obviously came out there with a gameplan to grind out a decision, but I didn't think in any point of the fight he even thought about trying to finish it. When he found it difficult to get the takedown I think he just started stalling the fight out on the cage.

"He just kept pushing me up against the fence, never trying to threaten, just stall it out as long as he could. I thought the referee would have done more to break us after the first round. I thought he would see the fight was going nowhere so would break it up more and get some action going."

The outcry from both fans and media alike has led to suggestions that referees need to intervene more in circumstances like this. Such interventions would prevent fighters from running down the clock and stealing judges' decisions in such a non-competitive manner.

The problem here is not wrestlers, it is fighters who quite simply do not want to fight - who come to try to steal the decision. While Winner strongly agreed, he also defended how hugely significant wrestling is in MMA.

"Wrestling is a massive part of MMA and nobody was bashing wrestling. No-one has a problem with Randy Couture who wrestles hard, who brings it and uses that wrestling to finish fights. It's when guys come in who use that wrestling to avoid a fight - and avoid a fight at all costs.

"[MMA is] such a complex sport with so many aspects that go into it, you have to make it fair as possible for everyone who takes part - no matter what background they are coming from. But it comes down to the referee judging.

"When someone is trying to get a takedown and not succeeding with it, just holding onto someone's arms, not trying to advance - the referee has to do something. I was very frustrated and I don't wanna take anything away from [Nik Lentz], he was a nice guy and I've watched his previous fights where he was quite active. But with me - I was like: 'what's this guy doing?'. He just kept pushing me against the fence and I just figured after the first or maybe the second round he would get discouraged from it. I saw it in his eyes... he didn't want any part of the fight. When I came forward on a couple of times he went a bit square and looked at me [as if to say] 'oh dear.'

"I mean everyone in the Arena was booing. They wanna see more action. Who wants to watch five minutes of someone getting pressed up against the cage? Then stop, then another five minutes - they need to break it up more.

"When I come out it's to win the fight and to put on a show for the fans. They are the ones buying the tickets and screaming their heads off in support. I wanna come out try and win and give the fans what they want so when you have a fight like my [last] fight it is very, very frustrating."

Chris Park is mmatorch.com's UK specialist. To visit mmatorch.com, click here.

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