UFC Belgrade star claims ‘the fight was taken’ from him as controversial loss could lead to axing

Dennis Buzukja suffered his fifth loss in six fights this past weekend, potentially marking the end to his UFC tenure.

This past Saturday, the premier MMA promotion hosted their first ever event in Serbia with UFC Belgrade, headlined by Uros Medic and Daniel Rodriguez.

As with the majority of events, it didn’t come without its moments of controversy involving UFC referees as once again at least one fight was plagued by a controversial decision.

That came in the featherweight scrap between Dennis Buzukja and Bogdan Grad who fought on the prelim portion of the fight night.

Dennis Buzukja claims Jason Herzog stopped his fight with ‘no tap’

Both Grad and Buzukja were coming into their fight in the Serbian capital off the back of back-to-back losses.

Grad’s most recent loss came last November when he was knocked out by Paddy Pimblett‘s teammate, Luke Riley.

‘The Great’ Buzukja on the other hand only fought this past April, suffering his fourth loss in five fights when he was knocked out against Marcio Barbosa.

His recent run of losses was made much worse at the end of round two when Grad tied him up in an arm triangle, subsequently resulting in the stoppage.

Despite that, the stoppage was extremely controversial as Jason Herzog pulled Grad off him and waved off the fight despite Buzukja having not tapped out.

Replays showed the 28-year-old attempting to move Grad’s legs to the side, which Herzog mistook for him tapping out.

“Guys, I don’t even know what to say,” Buzukja said in reaction to his fight on his Instagram story.

“The ref stopped the fight with no submission, no tap. Sometimes you’ve God’s plan is different from ours, but I don’t know what to say.

“There was no tap, the choke wasn’t even in, there was 10 seconds left of the round and it (would’ve been 1-1 going into the third round), I started getting my distance and hurting him and wobbling him and I felt him fading.

“I was fighting with all my heart, to have it taken from me without a submission or tap, it’s crazy, it’s crazy. The fight was taken from me, I would’ve went to sleep if there was a submission,” he continued.

With that being Buzukja’s fifth loss in six fights, it doesn’t bode well for his future in the premier promotion.

With Dana White’s Contender Series just around the corner for another year, the UFC boss will continue to make space for another batch of new signings.