Two-time ADCC world champion Yuri Simoes really can’t catch a break in his professional MMA career as the phenomenal grappler has now lost his second professional fight. Not just that, but the loss itself was rather controversial as it came at the hands of the judge’s scorecards and there were many watching the fight who disagreed with the way the decision went. This loss comes shortly after Simoes made his MMA debut for ONE FC at the end of 2020 and lost a clear decision to a far more experienced MMA fighter in Fan Rong. The promotion set him up with another difficult fight against an experienced opponent, undefeated Russian prospect Daniyal Zainalov.
Simoes took the fight on pretty short notice and had just 5 weeks to prepare for an incredibly difficult opponent, but of course he was confident that he could right the ship and bring his professional MMA record to 1-1. It didn’t take long for Yuri Simoes to speak out about the judging that he experienced in his second MMA fight, expressing his anger at the way the decision went:
It was understandable too, as many fans and pundits had Simoes winning the fight. As he revealed in his public statement, Simoes had an incredibly difficult weight-cut heading into this fight. ONE FC has previously taken measures to prevent athletes from dropping excessive water weight so any weight lost by them leading up to the fight is actually primarily fat or muscle as opposed to as a result of dehydration. It’s easy to see then why a controversial loss would frustrate Simoes even more than the average fighter, given that he worked so hard to make the fight happen in the first place.
The full ONE Championship: Full Circle event replay, including Yuri Simoes taking on Daniyal Zainalov in his second professional MMA fight, is available to watch on the promotion’s official YouTube channel below:
