MMA: Drew Chatman apologises for flipping off knocked-out Irvin Ayala's back

LFA 36’s first fight ended in a really bizzare fashion. It was a heavyweight match-up between two men making their professional MMA debut. During the middle of the first round, Irvins Ayala had dropped Drew Chatman with a leg kick, he then himself dropped down to hit his opponent with hammer fists. However, in this process as soon as Ayala dropped down to the ground, his chin was unintentionally hit by Chatman’s shin and Ayala was knocked-out. Chatman had then proceeded to stand on Ayala’s spine and execute a front flip and partly land on the body of the unconscious Ayala. After receiving a lot of criticism, Chatman has now come out and apologised.

Chatman recently did an interview with MMA Fighting. In the interview, he apologised for his actions. Here’s what he had to say:

I threw a kick, he tripped me and as he came down, I moved my knee in a certain position and he had hit his chin to my knee, at that moment, it happened so fast that my instincts just kicked in and I started punching. As he fell down to the floor, it was almost like I couldn’t believe he was out, because it happened really quick. My natural reaction was just to get up.
Normally, I celebrate my fights. If you see all my amateur fights, I’m doing flips, I’m doing cartwheels or whatever the case may be. I didn’t think before I did it. I just jumped and did a flip. So it was almost like subconsciously I did what I normally what I would do celebrating a victory that I normally get.
Let me be honest with you, man, I don’t deserve to get paid for that. It’s disappointing watching that. My mother has to see that. People that look up to me and see me become an inspiration to them have to look at that. Even though I’m not a champion so to speak, but I overcame a lot of things and I became something that I never thought I would become. Just to have my first pro fight is crazy, because I didn’t think I’d ever be on this level. It just happened so fast.
So, the rules are the rules. And at the end of the day, when you actually look at what took place, I’m OK with having my pay taken away. I’m OK with being suspended 90 days. I’m OK with that. Because you can’t get that back. The video is priceless. I have to look back at that and live with regret every single day.

You can read the full interview here.