UFC referee Jason Herzog came under intensive one to officially see during a preli battle on Saturday evening in UFC Abu Dhabi.
The premier promotion returned to the middle on Saturday for a new iteration of UFC Abu Dhabi, excluding a middleweight candidate fight between Robert Whittaker and Reinier de Ridder.
But it was just the second fight in the event that was covered with controversy when Mohammad Yahya and Steven Nguyen clashed in a fight with featherweight.
The fight was one-way traffic when the Contender Series-Aluin by Dana White, Nguyen, dominated his opponent and scored a record-breaking eight knockdowns in the fight.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Dana White step-in details conversation with Jason Herzog
The only reason why Yahya took it from the round one is because he was saved by the bell, but that did not stop him from coming out all the weapons that flares in round two.
The 31-year-old then sustained a brutal eye injury like a lump that grew the size of a tennis ball under his eye and waved his eye shut.
And the extent of his injury was so bad that veteran referee Jason Herzog called the fight at the end of the round two, but he became intense criticism because he did not stop the fight before because Yahya had eight knockdowns.
UFC boss Dana White was not present for the event, but UFC director Dave Shaw took some questions from the media after the event and spoke about the situation with Herzog.
“It is interesting, then we spoke with Herzog and he noticed that there were times in the fight where Yahya looked like he was in it again,” Shaw said at the press conference after the fight.
“So he would be knocked down, he would be knocked down quickly, I think there might have been five in the first round, maybe two more in the second and then I think how quickly his eye changed and swollen.
“I mean, what do I think? I think there was certainly a solid argument that the fight could have been called earlier, but (Herzog) took care of his justification and it seemed fine to me,” Shaw continued.
Health update is all clearly coming back for Yahya
Despite what seemed to be almost guaranteed to be a broken orbital or cheek bone, the commentators on the broadcast gave an update during the main map.
'The Vae Warrior' had no facial fractures during his defeat, and Fortunately CT scans came back negatively.