The UFC was in Manchester last night as Michael Bisping defended his middleweight title against Dan Henderson.
On the prelim card, Mike Perry faced Danny Roberts. Perry made waves back in August with his debut UFC fight, an impressive first round TKO win against Hyun Gyu Lim on the McGregor vs Diaz 2 card.
It was another KO win for Perry last night, this time in the third round.
What was not impressive about the fight was the refereeing of Marc Goddard. Usually an excellent official, Goddard took an excessive amount of time to stop the fight. Roberts was uneasy on feet after taking a right hand from Perry. That was followed up by a knee and another right from Perry which clearly had his opponent virtually out cold.
It took another three punches from Perry, with a barely conscious Roberts on the deck, for the fight to be stopped.
Really, really awful stoppage from Marc Goddard.
— Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) October 8, 2016
Wild fight. Marc Goddard let Roberts take too many shots at the end. Looks like Perry's going to be around long enough to get even weirder.
— Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA) October 8, 2016
Marc Goddard letting Roberts eat a couple of extra punches there. Jeez.
— Mike Chiappetta MMA (@MikeChiappetta) October 8, 2016
"Ladies and gentleman, referee Marc Goddard has FUCKING FINALLY called a stop to this contest"
— Fernanda Prates (@NandaPrates_) October 8, 2016
Marc Goddard did not have to stop that fight, Roberts was already dead. Mike Perry is dumber than a sack of rocks, but he can throw #UFC204
— Surfer Ken©™, BSN, RN (@SurferKenLive) October 9, 2016
The striking of fighters on the ground is often what opponents of MMA cite as being what they most dislike about it. This fight will certainly perpetuate that line of thinking.
Last month, Roy Nelson actually kicked referee John McCarthy due to the time he took to stop his fight against Bigfoot Silva. Nelson felt Silva took some unnecessary blows.
Here's the Mike Perry KO of Danny Roberts from last night.
