Javier Mendez, head coach to new UFC Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, has revealed his anger the 31-year-old's knockout win over Chris Weidman on Saturday was not stopped in the third round due to sheer amount of damage his charge was inflicting.
Referee Herb Dean allowed the fight to continue into a fourth round despite Rockhold mounting Weidman and launching a sustained and savage beatdown on his opponent, and though his fighter was winning, Mendez wasn't happy and has called for a rule change to allow coaches to stop fights.
Per MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti, he told the MMA Hour:
Well, let's put it this way, I was cussing. I was cussing. I was literally, just, f---ing pissed. And I'm not really blaming Herb, per se. I'm blaming the way the system is. It needs to be like boxing where we as corners don't have to go to the doctor to stop the damn fight, where we just stand up in the cage or whatever and we throw the towel and the fight is over. It should be a simplified rule, just like boxing.
Who knows the fighters better than the coaches, as far as what the fights can do and what they can't do? Who knows them better? We do. Not the doctor, not the refs. We do. If we see our fighter and we know he's going to take a beating, we should be able to throw the damn towel and without any interruptions from the doctor or anybody. And we shouldn't be reprimanded from it.
As Al-Shatti notes, the rules regarding a fighter's corner throwing in the towel—physically and metaphorically—varies from state to state and has caused confusion between fighters and cornermen alike.
In this instance, with the fight taking place in Nevada, Weidman's corner would not have been able to actually throw in a towel, despite that being allowed by MMA's rules. Rather, they would have had to inform a commission inspector of their intent and waited for the inspector to relay that to Dean.
MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani and Luke Thomas captured the brutal moment in the third:
Rockhold ends the 3rd in full mount raining blows on a bloody Rockhold. That's gotta be 10-8. Herb Dean was super close to ending it. Wow.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 13, 2015
This is a vicious mount by Rockhold..
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) December 13, 2015
Mendez believes there should be no stigma about fighters or their corners retiring in such circumstances so as to avoid serious injury and that Weidman's coaches would have stopped the fight if they knew they could:
It shouldn't be looked down upon. If that's the official rule, then it should be that, 'hey, you guys, we encourage you. Know your fighters. Don't let your fighters take the punishment.' In this case, I bet you Ray Longo and Matt Serra were thinking, 'f--k, I want to throw in the towel.' I bet you they were. I bet you they weren't thinking, 'come on, Chris, pull out of it.' I bet you they were thinking, 'what the f--k is going on?!'
They care so much about their guys and they're such great coaches, I know they were thinking the same thing. There should be a clear understanding of how we need to stop these fights, because Chris didn't need to take that unnecessary punishment. He did not. And I dare anybody to disagree with me.
Rockhold himself was less concerned, per MMA Fighting:
Rockhold doesn’t mind that Herb Dean didn’t stop it in the third. “All that matters is I got the W."
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) December 13, 2015
That may well have been different if the roles were reversed, though, and Mendez noted he would have stopped the proceedings if it was Rockhold taking the beating from Weidman: "Hell yeah, I would've stopped it. There would've been no questions asked. I would've stopped that damn fight, and then I would've dealt with the consequences with Luke."
Dean has attracted plenty of criticism for his decision to let the fight continue, such as from Bleacher Report columnist Jonathan Snowden and MMA Junkie's Chamatkar Sandhu:
Jesus God Herb Dean is a sadist. Or has money on Weidman. That was gross. #UFC194
— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) December 13, 2015
Dear Herb Dean: That's how people get permanently hurt. #UFC194
— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) December 13, 2015
Wow I am in utter disbelief Herb Dean didn't stop the fight. How many unanswered strikes does it take? #UFC194
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) December 13, 2015
Nevertheless, Sandhu afterwards placed him in the sport's top three officials:
What you're looking at here are the 3 best referees in MMA: @HerbDeanMMA, @marcgoddard_uk and @JohnMcCarthyMMA LtoR. pic.twitter.com/0pxWia9NVI
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) December 14, 2015
Though it's clear Dean should have stopped the fight as the bloodied Weidman took blow after blow from the unrelenting Rockhold, the aftermath could see the rules clarified for the fighters and their corners in future.
Indeed, in the interest of the fighters' safety, it's paramount that all involved are fully aware of exactly how to end a clash as quickly as possible if there's any danger of permanent damage to those in the Octagon.
