One of the best referees in mixed martial arts (MMA), John McCarthy said that stopping Rafael dos Anjos from dishing out further punishment to an unconscious ex-champ at UFC Fight Night 49 was the right call to make.
McCarthy was caught in controversy as he was criticized for halting the main fight at UFC Fight Night 49 between Benson Henderson and Rafael dos Anjos in the very first round. This occurred when dos Anjos hit Henderson with his left hand and the latter fell on the floor. Dos Anjos proceeded to go for the finish.
Because of this, McCarthy explained his side through recent edition of The MMA Hour.
He said "This is what it comes down to. A referee is not there to make the fans happy. I am there for the safety of a fighter. It all comes down to, there are many things that we have to live with in our lives. When a fighter goes unconscious in a fight and you are in a position to see it and you realize he is unconscious; there are times when a fighter hits the ground or he gets hit again and they wake back up. But, if you come in to stop a fight, and the fight is over because you are doing it for the safety of the fighter. You can't predict the future and you can't sit there and wait and let that fighter continue to get hit to see if he will come back or of he will stay out and then stop it. That's not what you do for the safety of the fighter. You have to make a decision. And when I saw Benson, Ben got hit with several things that hurt him. Benson is such a tough fighter. He got hit with a left hand and it hurt him and he stood his ground and started firing back. Then he got hurt with a knee that ended up putting him down and when he tried to get up, he got hit with a left hand. When he got hit with that left hand, he went unconscious. And I saw him go unconscious and that's when i decided it needed to end and I would make the exact same decision a hundred times. It's the right thing to do even though fans, at times say, 'No, you should have let it go!' As a fan, I understand what you want, but you can't have everything. When you have a fighter in that position, we have fighters that take damage based upon things that happen after they are no longer able to defend themselves. As a referee, no referee wants to be responsible for that. And I'm not going to let that happen."
While others thought that Benson was robbed of the opportunity to recover, McCarthy believes that his call was just right and he did not want to see the former champ take more punches.
