Charles Oliveira underscored his authority in the UFC lightweight division with a third-round submission win against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas, but some eagle-eyed viewers claim his win is marred by an act of cheating.
Louisiana native Poirier's second crack at the undisputed world title went much the same way as his first, ending as he tapped in submission to a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
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But if that first loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov was entirely without controversy, the same cannot be said for Saturday night's contest with Brazilian submission machine Oliveira.
After a first round in which he was the more dominant of the two, Poirier found himself entangled in Oliveira's web early into the second as the champion attempted to maneuver various ways to attack his opponent's right arm, emptying his box of tricks in the process.
But as Poirier attempted to slip away, footage suggests that Oliveira grabbed his glove – something which is outlawed in the rules of mixed martial arts – forcing Poirier to roll away rather than pull out of the move, and inviting the champion into a dominant position where he spent much of the remainder of the round pounding away with vicious elbows from the top.
"He's holding on to the glove in an illegal way," commentator Joe Rogan declared on the broadcast. "See the way he's holding the glove like that? He cupped his fingers underneath the glove to achieve that position.
"There was something to that position that made Dustin roll," Daniel Cormier agreed. "I don't know why he would have rolled instead of just keep pulling the arm back."
"We'd have to look at it real closely but in my eyes that was what was happening," added Rogan.
And with Poirier visibly affected by the ensuing shots ahead of being submitted a minute into the next round, some fight fans are crying foul.
"Easy round for Oliveira. Not sure what to say about the glove grab, but if that's happened, that's pretty bad to do," wrote MMA insider Luke Thomas on Twitter.
"My problem is, rewatching Charles past fights he’s does a lot of dirty stuff like this," said a second, while another commented on how the alleged incident was pivotal in leading to the eventual finish of the fight.
"It happened and it changed the fight completely," they wrote. "Dustin pulls his arm out if Charles isn’t grabbing the glove. Instead he took him down and wore him out for 3 1/2 minutes."
But while social media worked itself into a tizzy, Poirier himself wasn't quite so convinced.
"[Coach] Mike Brown was asking before we got back to the locker room why I didn't just slide my arm out," Poirier explained in the post-fight press conference.
"I don't remember the finger in the gloves but I was trying to pull my arm out and it felt like it was in there good but Mike did ask me in the locker room after why didn't I just pull my arm out. I tried.
"I don't know if his fingers were in my glove or not. I didn't feel it."
And with Poirier refusing to cast any blame towards his opponent, he was joined by several others online who said that Oliveira stayed within the rules throughout his first defense of his 155lbs crown.
"The 'glove grab' narrative is all Joe Rogan’s fault," another fight fan chimed in. "Charles Oliveira grabs it for less than 2 seconds, immediately switches to wrist control (maintains ankle control), Dustin still wasn’t able to escape. And then rolls to get Poirier on his back."
"Glove hold happened for at most three seconds, most of it was just holding the wrist and rapping the arm. Once the glove was grabbed Poirier was already rolling to get a better position which lead him on the ground either way," wrote another.
"Doesn’t look like his fingers and in the glove he’s grabbing his wrist I think Poirier wasn’t complaining about it after the fight anyway," said a third.
Either way, and despite the support from several sections of the fight community online, it will be scant consolation for Poirier who will wake up on Sunday morning with the grim realization that he has fallen at the final hurdle of the sport one more time.