Bruno Silva received’t like what “Massive” John McCarthy needed to say concerning the New Jersey fee’s dealing with of the controversial ending to his UFC on ESPN 54 combat with Chris Weidman.
This previous Saturday, Weidman got here away victorious after initially stopping Silva by ground-and-pound for a third-round TKO at Boardwalk Corridor. The end result was immediately known as into query after a slow-motion replay confirmed Weidman egregiously poking Silva in each eyes a second earlier than the ending sequence. Upon additional evaluate by referee Gary Copeland and the State Athletic Management Board, which regulated UFC on ESPN 54, the combat went to the judges’ scorecards as a result of the combat entered Spherical 3, ensuing nonetheless in an introduced unanimous decision (but actually technical decision) win for Weidman.
The controversial final result naturally upset Silva and didn’t sit well with many observers on social media, however McCarthy, a former referee and present PFL analyst, defined Monday on his “Weighing In” podcast that the fee finally bought it proper – even when he did take umbrage with Copeland’s lack of warnings towards two earlier Weidman eye pokes earlier than the 2 that led to the end.
“When Gary Copeland has Chris Weidman, who’s placing his fingers out prefer it’s a pitchfork – you could tackle that because the official,” McCarthy informed co-host Josh Thomson. “I don’t care that you simply’re in New Jersey the place Chris Weidman is a hero. I’m being sincere: I wished Chris Weidman to win this combat. … However I can’t have Chris Weidman getting preferential remedy so far as you’re the one creating this drawback. It’s essential tackle the issue and ensure the person who’s creating the issue doesn’t do it anymore. Properly, he did do it extra.”
McCarthy continued: “I don’t suppose Gary noticed the attention pokes (simply earlier than the end), in order that was comprehensible. He makes the decision of stopping the combat. As soon as he makes the decision of stopping the combat they usually have a look at the tape, you may see that he did get poked within the eye. … They should have the judges rating no matter a part of the third spherical they’ve seen. Who received that spherical? You have already got two rounds which have been judged. This want(ed) to go to a technical determination. It’s not a unanimous determination victory. It’s a technical determination victory for Chris Weidman.”
“Chris had received the primary two rounds. And in case you’re gonna say the third spherical, I feel Chris was successful that one for probably the most half, too. So I knew Chris was gonna win the combat, however that approach it’s not on the truth that a foul occurred and the referee decided to cease it with out seeing the foul. Now (the fee is) saying, ‘OK, we see the foul. That is what we do.’ Based mostly upon the truth that the combat had entered the third spherical, you may go to a technical determination. If the identical factor had occurred within the second spherical, it could’ve ended up being a no contest. You wouldn’t have had a technical determination, as a result of they’ll solely go to that technical determination if the combat enters the third spherical.”
Even when the fee bought it proper primarily based upon the foundations ultimately, Silva continues to be certain to really feel wronged. Silva informed MMA Fighting that he plans to enchantment the end result, however McCarthy defined how that’s prone to be a futile course of for him.
“What they’re doing is, by going to that technical determination, it’s the correct factor to do. I’m simply gonna let you know straight out,” McCarthy mentioned. “As a result of giving Chris Weidman a victory off of TKO, you then’re saying that you simply’re not addressing the truth that there was a foul. They’re addressing that reality. Gary Copeland may’ve determined to have taken factors for the fouls. He didn’t try this. That’s his determination. … So the fee really did the correct factor. However, sure, by doing that proper factor, they’re taking the flexibility of Bruno Silva to protest the stopping of the combat as a TKO and making it a no contest in a while. They’re taking that away by doin the correct factor.”
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