Muhammad Ali's son-in-law Kevin Casey earns split draw at UFC 199
Kevin Casey fought to a split draw in his match with Elvis Mutapcic while competing with a very heavy heart less than 24 hours after losing his father-in-law Muhammad Ali.
Casey is married to Ali's daughter Hana and after receiving news of the legendary boxer's death, the 34-year-old middleweight decided to move forward with his UFC 199 bout at the Forum in his hometown of Inglewood, Calif.
As the fight with Mutapcic started, Casey looked strong as he plowed through his opponent with an early takedown in round one while applying his considerable jiu-jitsu skills.
As a black belt under Rickson Gracie, Casey has a ton of credentials on the mat, but Mutapcic did a good job to stay out of trouble until the round came to an end.
As the fight moved forward, Casey slowed down considerably after he couldn't put Mutapcic away on the ground despite a couple good takedowns while advancing positions on the mat.
Mutapcic reversed the situation in the third and final round as he planted Casey on the mat and immediately moved into full mount.
Mutapcic started to rain down shots but with the seconds ticking away, he couldn't land enough punches to put a stop to the fight and the final horn sounded.
When it was over the judges scored the fight 29-28 for Casey, 29-28 for Mutapcic and then 28-28 for a split draw. After the decision was rendered, Casey talked about how tough it was to compete after the loss of his father-in-law the day before.
"It's a lot to go through before a fight but thank you guys for the support," Casey said. "God bless my family."
Ali also fought at the Forum, beating Ken Norton by split decision in their second meeting in September 1973. Ali got that redemptive victory six months after taking his second career loss when Norton broke Ali's jaw in their first bout in San Diego.
While Casey's post-fight comments were brief, Mutapcic dedicated his performance to Ali's memory.
"I knew (Casey) was going to be motivated," Mutapcic said. "Muhammad Ali is the greatest of all time, and that's his father-in-law. I feel like Kevin had a little more to prove because he married into the family and he was going to want to make a statement."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
