“Big” John McCarthy, former UFC referee, current Bellator commentator, and the progenitor of many of modern MMA’s rules and regulations, has clarified his criticism of the refereeing at UFC 267. Vyacheslav Kiselev, during the undercard fight between Benoit Saint-Denis and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, came under serious fire for what many saw as incredibly poor refereeing. He allowed Saint-Denis to endure an inordinate amount of damage.
Big John’s having none of it, as he told Jimmy Smith on Unlocking the Cage. “I was going nuts. I was standing up in front of my TV, screaming.
Big John McCarthy Details Criticism of Vyacheslav Kiselev, The Ref Stood Down From UFC 267
Look, if he had just let the fight go on, it’s wrong but it’s understandable and it’s understandable based upon there’s pressure there, he’s trying to let the fight play out and he’s looking at it thinking he’s doing a good job of letting this guy continue on even though he doesn’t realize he’s ruining this guy’s career.
The loss is not going to ruin his career, the beat down and the damage will.” McCarthy, who was instrumental in developing rules that prioritized fighter safety such as banning 6-to-12 elbows and introducing referee stoppages, continued.
“So that was one element and then the eye poke. The way he handled it was so horrendous and so wrong for the fighter, and the fighter that had been beat down. So you’re looking and you go, ‘Come on, you’ve got to be kidding me!’
Then you take a look at the knee, the knee did not hit the groin. Maybe the shin did, and okay that’s fine, but to take a point for it? No, the knee was placed properly and so you just looked at everything he was doing, he was lost, he was in over his head.
Everyone thinks it’s easy. It’s not. It takes time to figure out how to get these things and do them right and be good at them so you just flow with how you’re doing it and at that moment, he wasn’t ready for that type of fight.”
McCarthy saved some of his criticism for Saint-Denis’ coach, Daniel Woirin, who earlier this week claimed that he never even considered throwing in the towel to preserve the fighter’s safety.
“You’re supposed to love that guy, you’re supposed to know more about him than anybody and you know when they are not doing what they need to do to win the fight. You know when they’re not going to win the fight.
The biggest thing is, people are afraid to do it because they’re afraid of the fighter saying, ‘You didn’t believe in me’ or they’re afraid of losing their job. But when a guy says, ‘I didn’t even think about it,’ well he also should have said something better than, ‘You’re getting hit too much.’
Really? You didn’t think his fighter knew that at the time?” Do you agree with big John? Let us know in the comments.
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