Lets give the refs credit for a change
Time and time again we are so quick to bash a referee for the things they do or don’t do inside the octagon. After watching the UFC debut on Versus this past Sunday and the awesome job the referees did in two fights in particular and believe credit was in order. These guys make split second decisions with no re-do’s, slow motions or instant replays to fall back on. The decisions they make within that single moment are final and right or wrong the fighters most live with it.
The first televised fight of the night was Alessio Sakara vs James Irvin and the referee was Josh Rosenthal. He was left with a very dicey situation when Sakara land a left punch to Irvin’s face that sent Irvin scrambling away. Rosenthal halted the fight as Irvin was covering his eye and huddled up in a ball. Everyone including the announcers thought it was an eye poke but after watching the replay it was clearly punch to the eye and not a poke. Not having the option of using replay Rosenthal took control of the situation, made sure Irvin was looked at right away by a doctor and then ruled the fight a TKO victory by Sakara. A perfect call by Rosenthal but in that split second it could have gone either way but he got it right.
In the nights main event Herb Dean was selected to handle the referee duties between Jon Jones and Brandon Vera. towards the middle of the first round Vera was on his back with Jones in top position looking to ground and pound. Jones dropped one of the worst left elbow I have seen that landed right between the eye and Vera’s temple. Vera grabbed the side of his face and rolled into the fetal position where Jones continued to try and stop the fight. Dean noticing something was wrong stepped in and stopped the fight. This call might seem obvious to many or not that big of a deal to other but I beg to differ. Herb Dean stopped the fight at the exact moment I feel the fight should have been stopped, excellent work!
Josh Rosenthal and Herb Dean showed on Sunday that they are the top MMA Referee’s around not named Big John McCarthy.
