It’s not everyday you see referees criticizing one of their own in the tight-knit world of mixed martial arts, but it’s also not everyday you see a stoppage as egregious as the one that went down Friday at the Fight Night Global 63 event in Vladivostok, Primorsky, Russia.
In the night’s co-main event, UFC and Bellator veteran Maiquel Falcao wound up on the receiving end of one of the worst late stoppages you’ll ever see in his rematch against middleweight prospect Vladimir Mineev. The call was so indefensible that it prompted responses from veteran referees Marc Goddard and John McCarthy, including a particularly angry one from Goddard.