John McCarthy Discusses Controversial Stoppage At UFC Fight Island 3

Former UFC referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy has shared his opinion on the controversial stoppage in the featured prelim fight between Francisco Trinaldo and Jai Herbert, this past weekend at UFC Fight Island 3.

Trinaldo caught Herbert with a huge left hand in the third round, which looked to have sent the Brit into another realm while falling backwards on to the canvas. The 41 year old Brazilian then proceeded to land four more left hands, before referee Herb Dean decided to stop the fight.

Unhappy that the fight wasn’t stopped earlier, UFC announcer and former fighter Dan Hardy, yelled ‘Stop the fight’ at Dean. Unhappy himself with the outburst from the commentary booth, Herb approached ‘The Outlaw’ immediately after the fight, where the two were caught on camera exchanging words.

Speaking to Josh Thomson on their Weighing In podcast (as transcribed by BJPenn.com), McCarthy gave his opinion on the controversial stoppage.

“Jai’s really good,” McCarthy said. “Really talented. Good movement, a nice smooth stand-up fighter and he did well in the clinches and stuff. He was fighting really well. 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. And you know as the referee it’s one of those… It is an oddity knockdown. Not your norm. But when he falls how did he fall? He fell going backwards and was he still there?”

“No.” Thomson replied.

“Doesn’t look like it,” McCarthy agreed. “But, when Herb Dean sees him he comes around and he sees him fall down like this (motioning straight back) and he sees him with his hands in a position to defend himself. So Herb is thinking [Herbert] can defend himself and Trinaldo just stopped. Now Trinaldo stopped because he is 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 in there defending himself. Could he have stopped it? He could have. But, there would have been people complaining about him stopping it. There would have been people saying ‘Oh you didn’t give him the opportunity’ to try and you know work his way out.

“So you’re in that can’t win. You know the fact that Dan Hardy is friends with Jai, likes him and watches him fight in England. Well 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 would be standing up like Dominick Cruz. ‘You stopped it too soon!’. Can’t win.”

Since UFC Fight Island 3, both Herb Dean and Dan Hardy have taken to social media to stick to their guns on the matter.

What do you think of John McCarthy’s take on the controversial stoppage?

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