Dione Barbosa promises that she’s not a dirty fighter.
On Saturday, Barbosa faced Melissa Gatto in a preliminary flyweight bout on the undercard of UFC 115, winning a majority decision that was marred by controversy. In the second round, while Gatto was on the ground, Barbosa landed a massive and blatantly illegal soccer kick to her head.
Gatto was given five minutes to recover from the illegal strike; referee Chris Tognoni deducted a point from Barbosa before restarting the action, which obviously didn’t do much for Gatto, who still ended up losing the bout.
In the aftermath, Barbosa wants to make it clear that the situation was entirely accidental.
“I didn’t feel contact with her face at all,” Barbosa told reporters at her post-fight scrum. “I feel when I’m in there. I tried to hold her head so I don’t kick her head. It was no intention at all. In the moment, the referee stopped, and I just needed to wait. I’m just there to do my job. I don’t try to be unfair, dirty. I’m a martial artist. I don’t think about doing dirty things to win the fight.”
Intentional or not, Barbosa got lucky not to be penalized more for the incident, instead picking up her third win in the UFC. But despite her close call, Barbosa says she won’t avoid similar maneuvers in the future; she’ll just be a little smarter about them.
“Well, it is a risk, but every single time I step into the octagon is a risk,” Barbosa said of throwing a kick at a down fighter. “Three seconds something can change, one punch can land, and completely change the fight. So, my life, my style is a risk. I’m a grappler, and today I’m like, I will throw punches here. I want to finish this fight. I want $100,000. I take risk all the the time. It’s part of my life. This is what I love to do. So, I will take a risk again. For sure, I will recalculate and try to do better.
“I have in my corner a specialist in soccer kicks, Renato Canuto. Soon, he will be in the UFC, too. So, I need to train a little bit better with him, for sure.
