'That's new'… Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier baffled as UFC 309 fight is delayed by strange safety concern
11/16/2024 10:29 PM
The commentary team couldn’t believe what they were seeing before one UFC 309 fight.
Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, and Jon Anik were in the broadcast booth for Dana White‘s penultimate pay-per-view card of the year, which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night.
Before Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic traded blows in the main event, bantamweight contenders Jonathan Martinez and Marcus McGhee clashed in the featured preliminary bout at UFC 309.
However, their fight was hit by a slight delay due to a bizarre request from the cageside doctor.
Overgrown toenail causes safety concern at UFC 309
As veteran referee Herb Dean prepared to get Martinez vs McGhee underway, he was stopped in his tracks by someone at cageside who could be heard delaying the fight for a strange reason.
“The doctor wants to look at his toenails,” cut man Scott Rehm shouted.
Dean replied: “Really?”
As Anik explained what was happening to those watching at home, Rogan expressed his disbelief at the situation, which he’s never previously seen despite working for the UFC since 1997.
“Wow! That’s new,” Rogan said. “They might do it. Very interesting. I’ve never seen that before.”
Cormier added: “Never seen that before in my life.”
As Rogan admitted that long toenails are ‘dangerous’ in a fight, Anik revealed that it is common to check nail length pre-fight. However, usually, that is something that is done way before the athletes are in the Octagon, ready to throw down.
Ultimately, Dean deemed Martinez safe to compete despite the doctor’s concerns about his feet.
“I’m not gonna clip those now,” he said before finally getting the fight underway.
Marcus McGhee survives late Jonathan Martinez onslaught
Martinez appeared to have been thrown off his game by the pre-fight shenanigans.
The 30-year-old was extremely passive as he clearly lost the first two rounds at UFC 309.
Knowing he was down on the cards, Martinez came out firing in round three. The American unloaded with a series of painful-looking leg kicks that had McGhee retreating in the final seconds of their 15-minute clash.
Martinez’s late rally wasn’t enough to convince the judges he was a worthy winner and they unanimously scored the fight 29-28 in favor of McGhee, who improved to 4-0 in the UFC and 9-1 as a professional MMA fighter.
He’ll most likely crack the bantamweight top 15 when the rankings are updated next week. Meanwhile, Martinez has work to do to get back on track after suffering consecutive defeat for the first time during his 25-fight career.
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