You’ve undoubtedly endlessly debated the stoppage of Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann at UFC 170 and have either placed Herb Dean at fault or relinquished him of any guilt. I guess the better question to pose is if the fight was stopped with Ronda Rousey dropping from a liver shot instead of Sara McMann, would there be any controversy resulting from it?
I was cageside during the main event and from what I witnessed, if the fight wasn’t stopped at that exact moment, it would have ended up with Ronda Rousey perpetually punching McMann in the head until Dean eventually jumped in. The point I’m trying to make is that McMann was past the point of recoverability. She wasn’t fighting for position when Herb stepped in — she dropped to the ground and guarded her liver. She showed evidence of extreme and debilitating pain, and that is more than enough to stop the fight.
However this .gif has recently surfaced on Reddit showing Herb Dean shaking his head as he left the Octagon post Rousey vs. McMann.