Dana White backtracks on criticism of Brandao stoppage of Jimy Hettes

Jimy Hettes

NEWARK, N.J. – UFC President Dana White admitted he was a little quick on the trigger when a doctor shut down Jimy Hettes in his fight against Diego Brandao on Saturday.

In the second fight at UFC on FOX 15, Diego Brandao (19-10 MMA, 5-3 UFC) got a TKO victory over Hettes (11-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) when a doctor from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board said Hettes’ exploded left cauliflower ear was a bit to gruesome and dangerous to continue.

Initially, White posted his criticism on Twitter, saying, “You have to be kidding me New Jersey!!!!!”

But two minutes later, he backtracked when he saw just how bad Hettes’ ear was: “Ok nevermind New Jersey. His ear was broke in half, good call!”

UFC on FOX 15 took place at Prudential Center in Newark. The main card aired on FOX following prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass. The Brandao-Hettes fight streamed on the Fight Pass prelims.

At the post-event news conference, White said he jumped the gun.

“I tweeted too fast,” White told MMAjunkie. “(I’ve) got to slow down on the tweets. I tweeted too fast and then I saw the ear and I was like, ‘D’oh! You were right. You were right, New Jersey (commission).’ Listen, we don’t need an ear falling off on FOX. That was bad.

“At first, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? They just stopped that fight?’ That was starting to look like a really, really good fight. And then I really saw the ear. You start taking shots where a finger gets in that ear, that’s no good.”

After the fight, Hettes (11-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) said he understood the decision, even if he was disappointed in the outcome.

“Right now, this sucks and this is the worst thing in the world,” Hettes said. “I know the doctor wouldn’t have stopped it if there wasn’t a reason. It just seems like I’ve run into a lot of bad luck lately, and this is one of those times where I hope everything happens for a reason.”

Hettes has had some injury issues in the recent past, including a stretch that saw him sidelined for more than a year. After a second lengthy layoff, he was supposed to return in January, but passed out back stage and had his fight with Brandao scrapped the day of the event.

Brandao (19-10 MMA, 5-3 UFC), not surprisingly, believes the doctor made the right decision.

“I thought the (doctor) called it right,” Brandao said. “His ear looked bad. I was ready to continue (and) wanted to continue, but I think it was the right call. It didn’t finish the way I wanted. I really wanted a knockout.”

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 15, check out the UFC Events section of the site.