Issue 177

April 2019

Ex-referee, Big John McCarthy says he would have handled Henry Cejudo versus T.J. Dillashaw differently. Here's his take on the stoppage

You’ll hear referees say they do every fight the same, but you don’t, because they’re not all the same. There’s a big difference in fights and especially fights that fighters have earned the right to be in. As a referee, you have to understand that this is not your “every day fight” between Henry Cejudo and T.J. Dillashaw (UFC Fight Night, January 19, 2019). This a fight between two world champions – a flyweight world champion and a bantamweight world champion – and when you look at it in that fashion, you’ve got to give respect to both guys. I would have done it differently. 

It's not whether I agree with the stoppage or not, Kevin (MacDonald) was the ref inside the cage and he gets to make that call. And sure, T.J. got hurt, he got hit by a shot. 

But as a referee you need to understand this: I’ve only had 25 seconds go by in this fight. So at no time in this fight is there a better opportunity for a fighter in very good condition and with a full tank of gas to recover and make it out of there. It doesn’t mean he’s not going to get damaged, he can get damaged, but I’ve got to make it a decisive fight in the sense it has to be obvious he cannot defend himself or go on. 

In my mind, I would have let it go on longer. I thought T.J. was still moving, he never went out. He was never in a position where he wasn’t trying. I’m not saying he wasn’t getting beat, but that’s his job. His job some time is to get damaged. Likewise, Henry’s job is to damage him so much so that the fight ends, and that’s what he did. 

As the referee, you need to look at these moments and understand [that although] you want to protect this guy and you know he got dinged, you've got to let this go. You've got to let this be decisive. I’ve got to do that for the fighters, for the fans, for the promotion. I’m here dictating many things, after all. The promotion are putting their trust in me, the fans are putting their trust in me and the fighters are putting their trust in me. I’ve got to get this right, so sometimes I’ve got to hold myself back from what I want to do in protecting someone and letting it go until there’s no doubt that I’m stopping this fight.

Does T.J. have the right to feel he was robbed? T.J. can look at the fight, he can sit down and look at it, yes I got hit here, I went down here, I got clubbed with three hands here but I’m still fighting, I’m still trying. Look at what I’m trying to do? He’s got a good argument to say he had more in him and he should have been given an opportunity to prove he could get out.

As a referee, this is what happens inside you. Refs may not want to admit it, but they are under a lot of pressure. It’s the Barclays Center, the first ESPN+ for the UFC, champ versus champ – there’s a whole lot there. And the referee doesn’t even get a chance to settle into the fight. He’s nervous. The referee’s got to settle in. When something happens where he’s got to make fast decisions and he’s already started off kind of amped because it’s a big fight. And you can see that in the movements, he (MacDonald) wants to go in the opposite direction to the fighters because it puts him in a better position. You see him chasing. Him chasing like that is telling you his brain is running so fast, which means you’re going to make choices that are sometimes not what you want in the end.

Has it ever happened to me ? Of course it has. But when you make these decisions you always go back and look and ask was the decision I made right? Be honest, don’t be defensive. What should I have done better? What movement should I have done to put me in a better position? What is the point that I should have looked at? Maybe I should have let it go or maybe I should have stopped it and I didn’t. All those things makes a referee improve and grow, you learn from those experiences. If you sit there and defend what you do as always right, then you’re never going to grow or get better and the same mistakes will happen.

Referees are evolving like fighters. They have to. If you’re not trying to look at what you did and seeing how you could have done that better, you'll never improve. If you’re a fighter not trying to improve everything you do in that cage, you’re not going to get to be the best version of yourself. It's the same thing for a referee.