Chris Tuchscherer Didn’t Know He Could Stop Fighting
You know what the most painful part of Chris Tuchscherer’s loss to Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 102 was? Getting place-kicked in the nuts, obviously. But you know what the second most painful part of that loss was? The fact that he was basically forced to keep fighting by inept Portland officials. While fans figured Tuchscherer’s decision to fight on after the illegal groin-shot was simply because he’s a tough son of a bitch, Chris told a different story to MMA Junkie:
“No one knew what was going on…between the doctor and the referee. No one could tell me a straight answer on if I couldn’t finish what would be the result. So I was out there and didn’t know what to do. I asked the doctor many times what would happen if I can’t continue. ‘Is it a no-contest? What happens here?’ And the doctor and the ref couldn’t tell me. They kept passing the buck on to each other out there, so no one could tell me what was going on.”
About that time, Lesnar came cageside to check on Tuscherer. The heavyweight champ first inquired on his training partner’s health, at which time Tuscherer told him he thought, “My [testicle] is up inside my body.”
Ultimately, he felt like he was rushed into a decision.
“So then the doctor is standing there and asking me if I can continue,” said Tuscherer. “I’m like, ‘What happens if I can’t continue? I feel like my [testicle] is up inside me.’ The doctor said to me, ‘Do you want to go in the back and look at it?’ I’m thinking to myself, ‘What the hell is this guy talking about? Does that mean we go in the back and check it out and come back and fight?’ He couldn’t tell me what would happen if I couldn’t continue. So I’m sitting there thinking the worst. I don’t want to take a loss because I can’t continue, and you’ve got all these emotions going on, and it’s your first UFC [event]. I’m a tough guy, and I have a stubborn head, but with it being my UFC debut, I didn’t want to go out like that. So basically, I got pissed off and said, ‘Let’s just do it.'”
But even before that conversation, Tuscherer could be seen wrestling with officials. He said it was indicative of his frame of mind soon after the brutal kick first landed.
“I was passed out for whatever amount of time it was, and I had come to, and what I remember is that I thought I was on the ground fighting,” Tuscherer said. “That’s the part where you kind of see me going wild there. That was me coming to and thinking I was still fighting, and basically whoever was in front of me was who I was going after.”
A couple minutes later, after the in-cage antics and decision to continue, Gonzaga picked up his third win in four fights and blasted a still-ailing Tuscherer with a kick to the head. The TKO stoppage came mere moments later.
Looking back, Tuscherer knows he should have never continued.
“All I was wondering was if it’d be a no-contest. Would that have been the deal? If someone could have been telling me … it would have been a no-contest, I think my mind would have thought a little different that way. I would have thought to myself, ‘Hey, we’re not fighting on some small show here. This is a huge fight. I’m fighting a guy who’s a top-10 heavyweight in the world. I’ve got to be a 100 percent if I’m going to be out here.’ That’s probably what would’ve went through my head…
I talked to a few of the UFC guys on the night of that fight, and they apologized that it was done that way and that the Oregon State (Athletic) Commission didn’t really know what was going on, that it was the first time [the UFC] had been out there. I don’t blame the UFC at all. I blame the other guys for not knowing what was going on. That’s out of their hands, so I can’t blame them. So I’m hoping they’ll give me another shot so I can prove again that I do deserve to be out there. “
It’s not like the sport of MMA is new to Oregon, but last Saturday’s show was the first time that the UFC had come to the state, which means every referee, doctor, and miscellaneous member of the OSAC should have gotten a crash course in the rules of the game. It’s one thing when Donnie Jessup screams at two grappling fighters to “do something!”, and another when a clearly injured fighter is sent out to absorb more injury because nobody knows what the fuck is going on. Let’s hope Tuchscherer gets another chance to prove himself in the Octagon, this time with both testicles outside of his body.
