5 times a fighter blatantly cheated to win a fight in the UFC

#2. Andrei Arlovski – vs. Marcio Cruz at UFC 66, 2006

Andrei Arlovski's questionable tactics allowed him to beat Marcio Cruz

Grabbing the fence is one of those rules that we see broken at most UFC events, and plenty of people get annoyed at the fact that a referee rarely takes a point away for such an infraction, preferring a mere warning. Usually, though, the fence grab is a defensive move – mostly used to prevent a takedown – and so given that it’s being used by a fighter on defence, it doesn’t tend to lead to anything resembling the end of a fight. That was different for Andrei Arlovski at UFC 66.

Arlovski – with his back to the wall following two losses to Tim Sylvia – was matched with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whiz Marcio ‘Pe De Pano’ Cruz in a classic match of a striker against a grappler. And understandably, Cruz – an MMA novice with just three professional fights – decided to take the fight to the ground right away. He shot in on Arlovski and when he was unable to take him down, made the decision to pull half-guard before diving on an attempted leglock. Arlovski defended this with an illegal blow – a kick to the face of the downed Cruz – and referee Herb Dean stepped in to call a timeout.

In a questionable – but understandable – move, however, Cruz begged Dean to let the fight continue from the same position, feeling he had an advantage. When the restart came though, Arlovski hit him with a right hand and then gripped the fence tightly to prevent Cruz rolling into a kneebar before raining down some more blows to knock the Brazilian out. It was probably an instinctive move, but Arlovski still clearly broke the rules – twice – en route to his win and despite having a decent case for an appeal, Cruz took the loss and moved on.