One of the biggest stories coming out of the weekend’s UFC event, was the disagreement between fighter-turned-commentator Dan Hardy, and veteran referee Herb Dean. Now MMA referee legend John McCarthy Weighs in on the situation from his perspective, and says who was in the right in this tricky situation.
When Francisco Trinaldo took on Jai Herbert over the weekend, the bout was a fairly good one. However the ending would be marred with controversy, as Trinaldo hit Herbet with a solid punch that sent the Englishman crashing to the canvas. However Herb Dean refused to stop the fight there, despite Herbert seemingly being unconscious, and Francisco not wanting to hit him anymore. This sparked the ire of Dan Hardy who was working commentary for the event, resulting in an altercation between he and Dean, that has since become a big ordeal.
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John McCarthy Weighs In On The Controversy
Naturally, when situations like this occur, many people look to Big John McCarthy for advice. Big John is something if a pioneer for the sport, working as a referee since almost the begining of the UFC, before moving to a commentating role with Bellator. Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, he gave his thoughts on the situation, whether or not it was a good stoppage, and who was in the wrong.
“Jai’s really good, very talented. Good movement, a nice smooth stand-up fighter and he did well in the clinches and stuff. He was fighting really well,” McCarthy said. “But Jai gets hit and the shot that hits him goes off basically the top of his forehead. The top of his head and you see him go stumble back and fall the way he did. It’s like he got hit in the head with a hammer. As the referee it’s one of those, it’s an oddity knockdown. Not your norm. But when he falls how did he fall? He fell going backwards and was he still there?
“Doesn’t look like it,” McCarthy continued. “But when Herb sees him, he comes around and he sees him fall down like this and he sees him with his hands in a position, that Herb is looking at and saying ‘He can defend himself,’ and Trinaldo just stopped. Now Trinaldo stopped because he’s a competitor, a sportsman and felt like ‘He’s out., I shouldn’t have to hit him again,’ but, he has to continue on. So the fact that Trinaldo didn’t immediately go after him, makes it now where Herb really can’t stop it, in a way, because he is saying he’s (positioned) in a way to defend himself. Could he have stopped it? He could’ve, but there would’ve been people complaining about him stopping it. There would’ve been people saying ‘Oh you didn’t give him the opportunity’ to try and work his way out. So you can’t win.
“The fact that Dan Hardy is friends with Jai, and likes him and watches him fight in England,” McCarthy added. “He got all upset because his guy took extra shots and ok. But, if Dan Hardy was the guy who got hit and went down and someone stopped it, he’d be standing up like Dominick Cruz. ‘You stopped it too soon!’ You can’t win.”
What did you think of the stoppage? Do you side with Dan Hardy, or Herb Dean?