Ex-stripper UFC star complains about opponent cheating in controversial loss
Vanessa Demopoulos was furious following her latest UFC fight.
The strawweight fighter, who previously told talkSPORT about her journey from stripper to MMA star, squared off against submission specialist Jaqueline Amorim at UFC Vegas 97 on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, their clash ended in controversy in the very first round.
Amorim quickly got the fight to the floor and began working for a submission.
During a grappling exchange, Demopoulos could be heard screaming at the referee about her opponent cheating by holding onto the inside of her UFC gloves.
The official didn’t intervene and moments later Amorim sat back for an armbar that forced ‘Lil Monster’ to tap out for the first time in her 16-fight career.
Demopoulos was furious. The 35-year-old immediately began complaining to the referee before looking directly into the UFC cameras to accuse Amorim of cheating.
“She’s cheating,” Demopoulos said as soon as the referee waved off the fight. “She had her hand all the way inside my glove.”
Slow-motion replays of the incident she was referring to showed that the Brazilian contender did place her fingers inside the gloves of Demopoulos, but it was ultimately deemed to be accidental.
Amorim’s first-round win was confirmed after a brief review of the glove grab, even though a lot of fans thought it came as a direct result of cheating.
One person tweeted: “They isolated it in the replay during the interview. 100% a foul.”
Another said: “CLEAR and BLATANT glove grab.”
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A third person added: “VANESSA GOT ROBBED.”
Someone else commented: “Ref is a joke. Clear glove grab by Amorim.”
Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling chimed in: “Lol word. That arm is pinned right there. Not the easiest to just defend the armbar transition while someone is holding the inside of the glove.”
Amorim maintained she didn’t grab inside Demopoulos’ even after seeing the fight-ending sequence back.
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“I just had a chance to look on the big screen,” she said at the post-fight press conference.
“From the angle [I saw], it didn’t look like I was holding. I was holding over the gloves, not inside.
“But maybe I’ll look later. My corner says they looked, and it wasn’t. I heard the commission was taking a look and they said it was fine. Nothing was holding.
“I have a clear conscience, and I did the right thing.