Former top UFC bantamweight contender Raphael Assuncao competed against 10th Planet black belt Matt Walsh at a recent tournament and after he got a disqualification win, he immediately confronted his opponent and can be seen on film spitting at him. The match in question took place at the IBJJF Atlanta Spring Open 2024 was actually very short, as Walsh pulled guard early on and transitioned into the lockdown. He started to apply sideways pressure in order to get the sweep but he was disqualified by the referee for the action. It’s a controversial decision any time it comes up, because the IBJJF rules aren’t overly clear on the legality of the lockdown.
Although the position itself is perfectly legal, using it as a way to sweep the opponent is where it begins to enter a grey area. Forcing the opponent’s leg to the outside of their body is a great way to force a sweep from the lockdown because it applies pressure to their knee and they have to concede the position in order to avoid it. If the opponent chooses to submit to that pressure instead of accepting the sweep then it technically becomes an illegal submission, because it’s attacking the knee in a rotational fashion. It’s something that a lot of referees will get wrong and Matt Walsh explained that himself, along with shedding some light on what happened after the disqualification:
“Sometimes I win in IBJJF using it and sometimes they DQ me for it. That guy is RAPHAEL OLIVEIRA ASSUNÇÃO. He wouldn’t shut up about how 10P can’t fight and we’re all p*ssies. Yeah he kept spitting on me. Yeah, his friends who were refs there had cops make me leave the convention center… but he was allowed to stay.”
The footage that Walsh uploaded actually appeared to show Raphael Assuncao spitting at him after he was awarded the disqualification win, and he also went on to explain that he was removed from the venue after the confrontation:
“Yeah some fat Brazilian ref who was friends with my opponent had cops come in to take me away.”
10th Planet black belt Matt Walsh uploaded the footage of his match with Raphael Assuncao that ended in a disqualification and a short clip of the moment he spits at him in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
