There were various controversial moments on UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday evening.
The main event ended in a split of the razor-close that, according to some, should have disappeared the way of Robert Whittaker.
Reinier de Ridder was named the winner of the most important event, but there was a moment much earlier in the night who earned a strong response from fans.
Referee Jason Herzog was criticized because he had not stopped the second fight of the night that took place between Mohammad Yahya and Steven Nguyen.
Although they were not needed, the score cards gave a different conversation point.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
'Big' John McCarthy calls UFC Abu Dhabi jury members to not grant Steven Nguyen a 10-7 round
Although Jason Herzog did not stop the fight after Steven Nguyen broke the UFC record for most knockdowns in one fight, Mohammad Yahya was stopped by the doctor because of his horrible injury.
The first round was completely dominant for Nguyen, who apparently could not stop dropping his opponent every time he made contact with a clean attack.
All three judges, however, only scored the 10-8 fight to his advantage, in which some suggested that Nguyen had a clear case for a 10-7.
The legendary referee 'Big' John McCarthy tackled this during a recent episode of The Weeging in Podcast, where he said that various officials present for the event put him in the messages to ask if the round justified this score.
McCarthy said it was a clear and obvious decision to make, but he believes that the judges are trying to protect their own career by not producing a rare score card.
“I'm so, that's because they are afraid. They are now afraid of freaking their work. You look at, when you're that guy from outside [and] You are not in the [United] States and if you take a look at the people who judged it are many of them in Europe and they want to work.
“So they look and take the safe route to say:” You know what, this is a 10-8 “, when they don't give the hunter, Steven Nguyen, what he deserves for what he did in that round.”
John McCarthy also had the feeling that the fight should have been stopped earlier
The score cards had no influence on the fight, with Mohammad Yahya having little chance of winning before the game was called by the doctor.
“Big,” John McCarthy said that although Yahya clearly defended himself intelligently after some of the knockdowns, which was not the case for all.
He said he believes that Jason Herzog could have evoked it earlier, especially given the damage that the hunter took on compared to the use of the matchup.
“You can't take on the people who are in those lower fights, because if they have shown it, you know what, they will not win this fight, and you can see it … It makes no sense to bring this child to get more damage.
“It could have been stopped earlier and probably, I am honest, based on why I allow this child more damage if he doesn't win this fight.”