Last week, at the One On TNT1 event, Eddie Alvarez had a match against Iriri Lapicus. During the fight, Alvarez lowered the opponent to the ground and began to hit punches on the side. However, because Iri Lapicus turned to one side, Alvarez's punches hit the opponent's neck, the referee decided to handle American boxers.
Speaking on the Podcast “Weighing in” with former boxer UFC Josh Thomson, legendary referee MMA John McCarthy criticized the referee of the match, Mr. Justin Brown, quite harshly. McCarthy believes that losing in this case is a harsh punishment.
They need to understand,” John McCarthy sent to the MMA referees. “The referees are responsible for more than they think. They are responsible for the boxers, responsible for the tournament and are responsible for MMA fans and MMA sports. That's why the referees will have to do something reasonable in the scope of what they can do.”
“If you (referee Justin Brown) enter the championship match and use a red card to disqualify someone's competition, he resolved unreasonably and he did not think about the full context of what he was seeing,” John McCarthy added. “So you don't use your brain.”
Although referee John McCarthy was somewhat misunderstood because Alvarez's match was not a belt match, he still believed that One's referee saw the wrong attack of the American puncher.
“In that situation, Eddie is throwing a blow in the direction of the bow from the side. He does not throw a straight attack on the target. When a fighter threw the blow in such an arc, it was clear that he was trying to hit the opponent's ear.
John McCarthy is a very weight name in the MMA referee. He is considered as one of the biggest contributors to build the Code and how to grader modern MMA. In addition, John McCarthy is also the first person to open the MMA referee training school, Command Center (short for Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts National Development).