There weren’t a whole lot of memorable moments from the UFC’s debut card in Russia, but if anything stood out for all the wrong reasons, it’s veteran referee Herb Dean’s horrendously late stoppage of the C.B. Dollaway vs. Khalid Murtazaliev fight.
With Dollaway exhausted and taking serious punishment in the final minute of round two, Herb implored Dollaway to fight back. Murtazaliev kept landing ground strikes with Dollaway flattened out and not really doing anything than cover up his face, and Dean somehow let this continue until the horn sounded. A badly hurt and fatigued Dollaway was asked to get up, or else the fight would be over, and when Dean asked if he wanted to continue, presumably “yes” wasn’t the answer, so the fight was waved off.