Gary Goodridge showed up to fight in Budapest, Hungary today. He did not expect to have to fight two opponents - Nemeth “Tatar” Gabor AND the referee. According to Gary Goodridge’s Facebook page, “Big Daddy” Goodridge left the match during the second round. Goodridge announced on his site that Gabor constantly held onto the ropes and the referee never stopped the behavior nor docked Gabor any points. Instead, the referee docked Goodridge points in the first round for no apparent reasons.
As Goodridge mentions on the site, the audience did not care about the tactics that Gabor was utilizing as he was their hometown fighter. Goodridge goes on to say that “A fight is hard enough as it is, at age 42…I have to fight the opponent and the referee, and then I get all the penalties too…whatever… they can take their bullshit and I’m walking out of this one…:” Goodridge is outraged in his posting and continues to say that he “felt that this was set up from the beginning. I was mad as hell at the referee’s lack of professionalism and not following fighting rules…”
Unfortunately, footage has yet to be made available for the fight but Goodridge describes the first round from his point of view in detail on his profile page.
It was the first round and we both went into ring. I gave some great kicks to Tatar, my opponent. Then I did my usual strategy of putting up my gloves to cover my face while my opponent tires out. The referee stopped the match at this point, and took points away from me for no apparent reason. There was some protest in both corners, mine and his. … Read MoreThen the match continued…
Boxing happened as per expected, and I gave some kicks and punches out, but mostly kicks as this was my winning strategy going in…Tatar held onto the ropes 20 times up to his arm pits. John Gnap told me it looked like a professional wrestling match.
I got behind my opponent and grabbed his legs to pull him off the ropes…the referee then stopped the match again and gave Tatar no penalty points. Once the match was started again, I took my opponent down to the mat. I was in control on top, and was looking for an arm bar. Just then, the referee stopped the fight again and made us stand.
Goodridge, who has always been a professional in his fourteen years of over 40 MMA fights, goes on to describe the second round events that continued to frustrate him and eventually led to his exiting the fight.
After a 2 minute break it was round 2, and we both exchanged punches. My opponent pushed me into ropes, and I snuck out many times and gave him some knees. He was grabbing onto the ropes again to escape from my attack. John Gnap later told me that he had slapped Tatar’s hands about 10 times for holding the ropes, but it took a long while before the referee stopped the match again. At this point, I was pretty ticked off.
The referee wanted to start us again by the end of round 2, but I walked out of the ring, went to the change room, took a shower, and left the venue to go back to the hotel…this is the first time I have walked out of the ring in my 14 years of fighting…
Goodridge claims in his post that popular Hungarian boxing writer, Janos Perutek, was at the fight and contacted Gary in the locker room. Perutek apparently agreed with Goodridge’s antics and said that the behavior of the referee and opponent were shameful and he apologized on behalf of his country. Perutek agreed to write up the fight as a “No Contest”. The Hungarian website http://www.monokli.com also mentions that the hefty Gabor continually clung to the ropes throughout the fight.
Attempts to contact Nemeth Gabor have so far proven to be unsuccessful.
