Malaipet DQ'd for Going Muay Thai on Denny

The rules are abundantly clear: in mixed martial arts, a fighter is not permitted to deliver an elbow in a downward motion (ceiling to floor).  Nor is a fighter allowed to strike an opponent behind the back of the head.

“The Diamond” Malaipet Sitprapom (3-2) did both in the closing seconds of the first round against “Wildman” Thomas Denny (26-16) Friday in the main event of ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series on Showtime, and was disqualified.

“I’m sorry because I came here to fight, but this is MMA and you have to follow the rules,” said Denny, who could not continue after he was nailed by three blatant elbows to the back of the head.  “I may have been dazed but I wasn’t knocked out.  One thing I could not do, however, was move my neck.”

Knowing his advantage on the ground, Denny took Malaipet to the ground in the opening seconds and kept him there for more than four and a half minutes of the initial five-minute session.

At one point in the 160-pound fight, it appeared that Malaipet would get choked out, but he rallied to work his way out of it and managed to continue.  Denny quickly locked him up again and tried to take matters back to the ground.  A frustrated Malaipet then committed the three flagrant fouls.

Denny was given a few minutes to recover, but when he couldn’t the fight was called at the 4:51 mark.

“Malaipet was tough because I thought I had him with the rear naked choke,” Denny said.  “But I will definitely fight him again.  I was totally dominating.”

A world-class superstar Muay Thai kickboxer with reportedly more than 300 Muay Thai fights, Malaipet had a three-fight MMA winning streak end.

“I definitely want to fight him again,” Malaipet said.  “If he wants to do it at 150 pounds, I’ll fight him any time, any place.  This wasn’t my type of fight.  But there was no way I was ever going to tap out.”

In other televised bouts, Conor Heun (7-2) won an unpopular, unanimous decision over Marlon Mathias (5-2); Jaime Fletcher (6-3) recorded an upset points victory over Aaron Rosa (10-2); Shane Del Rosario (4-0) scored an opening-round knockout over Analu Brash (1-2); and Mark Oshiro (10-1) knocked out previously unbeaten Chris Cariaso (6-1) in the first round.