Dillashaw, White criticize main event stoppage
Dana White: “I’m sure when you saw him sitting here, he looks like he was in a three-round fight. But Jesus Christ, let them fight.”
The single most thankless task in mixed martial arts is being a referee. No one ever thought they won a fight because of the ref, but countless fighters argue that they lost because of officiating. And referees have to balance a fighter’s livelihood with a fighter’s safety, and that’s impossible to do perfectly because MMA is a hurting game.
Kevin MacDonald stopped the UFC on ESPN+ 1 main event in 32 seconds. He had the closest view of the action. He is the least biased figured involved. He knows more about stopping fights than anyone involved. Afterward, T.J. Dillashaw looked like he had been fighting for 15 minutes, not 32 seconds. But as is so often the case, there were complaints, most notable from Dillashaw himself, and from UFC president Dana White.
I did not lose,” said Dillashaw at the post-fight press conference, as transcribed by Milan Ordoñez for BE. You got the UFC doctors down there saying like ‘Man, I’m sorry.’ I don’t know what to do. That was early.’ It would be different, too, if I got smoked and dropped like in the (first) Cody fight. I wouldn’t even accept that victory like Henry Cejudo did. Yeah, of course, he’s gonna be happy, he got the belt, he won, he’s the state champion. But how could you be happy with that victory?
That wasn’t a victory. They had a better chance of stopping the first Cody fight than that one. I got hit on the chin as hard as you can get hit. This one clipped me behind the ear. What happens when you get clipped behind the ear? This is not right. It’s complete bulls***. I’m completely effing bitter right now. I’m pretty pissed off. I worked my ass off, bro. I’m about to f***ng cry. I put in a lot of work
Dillashaw then visibly attempted to hold back tears. White too was not impressed with the stoppage.
I thought it was an early stoppage, too, said Whiter. Listen, you got two of the best guys in the world, two world champions in a super-fight. Let them fight. Let them finish. I’m not taking anything away from Cejudo, because the fight went 20 seconds and Cejudo busted him up. I’m sure when you saw him sitting here, he looks like he was in a three-round fight. But Jesus Christ, let them fight. Horrible stoppage.”
Refereeing is impossibly difficult. It would benefit both fighters and UFC management to at least shadow a referee training course, so they could at the least be conversant with the issues prior to speaking about them publicly. McDonald is one of the most sought-after referee trainers in the sport, and likely would be happy to oblige.
And finally, this is MMA so there is always controversy, over Greg Hardy’s DQ in the co-main and the stoppage in the main, but overall, UFC on ESPN+ 1 was a tremendous introduction to the sport for ESPN.
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