Jimmy Crute: ‘I Don’t Feel Like They Should Have Stopped The Fight’

Jimmy Crute believes he should’ve been allowed to fight on against Anthony Smith at UFC 261 despite being unsteady on his feet ahead of the second round of their light-heavyweight match-up.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Crute reflected on his TKO loss to ‘Lionheart’.

“I felt a lot better after watching it back,” Crute said. “I was definitely wining that first round. I don’t feel like they should have stopped the fight for what they did, but it is what is. Like, what can I do about it? But I do feel better after watching it back. It was close, and as soon as the injury happened, I started dominating. So, it makes me feel a bit better about the whole situation. I know they shouldn’t have stopped it, and if they didn’t stop it I would have gone out and dominated in the second round.”

Crute talked about the kick which shut down his leg and ultimately brought an end to the fight.

“He hit me with this leg kick that hit me in the perineal nerve and just took out my whole bottom leg,” Crute explained. “Like, I couldn’t feel. Literally, it just felt like my leg had been dipped in fire, and then it went numb and I couldn’t feel anything in my leg. And then I kept rolling my ankle. But as soon as that happened, I just thought, oh well, I guess we’ll just have to grapple now. I knew the feeling in my leg would come back. With that nerve damage, it only lasts for about a minute or two. So, I knew that if I just grounded him, hopefully by the end of the round I could get some feeling back in my leg and we could go for the second. It took a little bit longer to get the feeling back. I think I literally started walking again normally like 20 seconds after they called the fight.

The 25-year-old is hoping to get an immediate rematch but understands that may not be possible.

“Yeah, I said we’ll run it back, and he said for sure. But it’s one thing to say that, but if I was him, I’m not gonna say he’s gonna be scared, but he’s gonna know that that fight ended in a way that benefited him,” Crute said. “That it could have gone a lot differently for him. It really could have gone a lot differently to him. If we make that second round, the tides turn massively. But yeah, if I get the rematch, it’s fine. I’m not gonna get a rematch straight away. Maybe I rematch Misha Cirkunov first. Maybe we go on a rematch tour.”

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