Something tells us UFC Brisbane’s co-main event would have been a bit different if Marc Goddard was inside the Octagon.
Neil Magny had a phenomenal come-from-behind victory over Hector Lombard on Saturday night. After being almost finished in the opener, Magny fought back to his feet and managed to dominate the second and third rounds until referee Steve Perceval had seen enough and awarded the American the TKO win.
WHAT A FIGHT! @NeilMagny stops @HectorLombard after a crazy fight! 💪 #UFCBrisbane https://t.co/KZBWS77K8l
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) March 20, 2016
However, there were many complaints after the fight regarding the referee’s performance. Many argued that his decision to allow the fight to continue while Magny relentlessly rained down with waves of unanswered strikes from the top position while Lombard was on his stomach, not intelligently defending himself from the onslaught.
Magny even told MMAjunkie after the bout that he felt the fight had been allowed to go on for too long.
“As much as we’re in the sport to win, it’s hard as an individual to put that kind of damage on a guy and not have it stopped. The ref is supposed to be there to protect the fighter, and he wasn’t in a position to protect himself at all, and the ref should have stepped in earlier, I thought.”
Top MMA referee Marc Goddard was cageside during the fight and judging by his winced reactions to Magny’s vicious beatdown suggests he may have intervened a bit earlier.
