Dana White shared his thoughts on Herb Dean’s controversial stoppage in today’s UFC Vegas 42 co-headliner during the post-fight presser.
Saturday’s fight card was co-headlined by a heavyweight fight featuring veteran Ben Rothwell taking on Marcos Rogerio de Lima.
Rothwell (39-14 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since May, where he had scored a submission victory over Chris Barnett. ‘Big Ben’ had gone 3-1 over his past four Octagon appearances prior to today’s event.
As for Marcos Rogério de Lima (19-7-1 MMA), the Brazilian heavyweight had also last competed for Dana White and company back in May, where he earned a unanimous decision victory over Maurice Greene.
Today’s UFC Vegas 42 co-main event did not last long. After landing a pair of heavy low kicks, De Lima clipped Ben Rothwell with a big right hand. The strike left ‘Big Ben’ wobbled and Marcos quickly pounced on him with a flurry of strikes. While the Brazilian was definitely getting off some big shots, Rothwell still appeared to be fighting back and defending. Despite that, referee Herb Dean decided he had seen enough and stepped in to stop the contest, an action that spawned heavy scrutiny (see that here).
Following the conclusion of Saturday’s event, Dana White spoke with reporters at the post-fight press conference where he was asked to share his thoughts on Herb Dean’s controversial stoppage.
“Herb needs to stop touching guys unless the fight is over,” White said. “You know what I mean? He goes in and grabs him by the waist and then decides oops maybe I… The good thing about this one was: that fight should have been stopped when he stopped it. You know, you didn’t see Ben jumping up and arguing about it. That fight should have been stopped. But (Herb Dean) has to pull the trigger and stop touching guys. Don’t touch them unless you’re going to stop the fight. And when they played it back in slow motion he was kind of like dancing. He doesn’t know what to do whether he is going to jump in or not jump in.”
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