Fighter safety is solely in the hands of the referee while inside the cage during any combat sport, and referee Josh Rosenthal failed Mark Munoz at UFC on Fuel TV 4: Munoz vs. Weidman on Wednesday night, according to UFC president Dana White.
During the second round of the main event, Munoz unloaded a wild right hand and in the process was caught by a well-placed, right elbow by Chris Weidman that hurt the middleweight contender. Munoz fell to the canvas and Weidman followed him. Weidman delivered several unanswered blows before referee Rosenthal stepped in to stop the slaughter.
Munoz was face down on the canvas eating right hand after right hand, unable to defend himself.
The referee’s primary objective is to protect the competitors, but on Wednesday, a referee failed a fighter in the main event on Fuel TV.
“It was a bad stoppage,” said White in a Fuel TV interview following the event.
He declared Rosenthal’s stoppage as, “A lotta late.” He continued, “I hate that. It drives me crazy. How you can be standing like this looking down at a guy getting hammered like that and not think the fight needs to be stopped?”
There’s little argument from anyone who has seen the footage that Munoz endured unnecessary damage.
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