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A UFC fighter knocked his opponent out with one vicious punch during the third round of his big fight on Saturday night on Fight Island, but referee Herb Dean refused to wave the contest off. Two of the UFC announcers calling the action from cageside were livid, and one of them, UFC legend Dan Hardy, even left his post to confront Dean.
Francisco Trinaldo Scored Round 3 Knockout Twice
UFC lightweight Francisco Trinaldo stood over his fallen opponent Jai Herbert in the featured prelims bout of the latest UFC Fight Night card on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi seemingly confused about what he should do next.
His opponent was clearly unable to defend himself but the referee stood over the fallen fighter refusing to motion for the stoppage.
After a few seconds passed by, ticks from the clock that seemed like an eternity watching it in real-time, Trinaldo finally decided the only thing he could do was try to finish his opponent.
That’s when he landed the finishing blows on the felled Herbert who appeared already to be down for good in the fight.
That’s when Dean finally stepped in to call it.
You can watch the incredible knockout, followed by Dean’s dangerous pause, in the video clip below.
Dan Hardy and Paul Felder Livid About Late Stoppage
Former UFC fighters Dan Hardy and Paul Felder were notably angry about the late stoppage.
The two fighters were calling the action from cageside for ESPN, and Hardy was so angry over the late call that he couldn’t even keep himself from bouncing from his ESPN duties to confront Dean just as soon as the fight was over.
“He does not want any more shots in that moment,” Hardy said watching the replay of the event in horror. “That fight was over. That’s terrible.”
That’s about the time Hardy left his post to confront Dean. You can see a video posted on Twitter of the incident below.
Felder wasn’t happy either
“That pisses me off,” Felder said during the telecast. “You know, that’s not normally Herb. Herb is usually a fine referee, but tonight that’s two calls now where I think the fight should’ve been stopped. That’s even worse. Herbert had a beautiful performance. He’s a young guy making his debut, and Trinaldo rocks him. He falls back the way he falls back like a board. He was out.”
Per MMA Junkie, Hardy was overheard telling Dean, “You do your job, and I’ll do mine.”
UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till
The action happened during the prelims portion of the UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till card in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
You can see all the most important details about the last UFC Fight Island card for July below.
What: UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till
When: July 25
Where: Yas Island in Abu Dhabi
Time: 8 p.m. ET (main card), 5 p.m. ET (prelims)
Channel: ESPN/ESPN+
Below is the full fight card.
Main Card
Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till – Main Event
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Rogerio Nogueira – Co-Main Event
Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez
Paul Craig vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov
Alex Oliveira vs. Peter Sobotta
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Rhys McKee
Prelims
Francisco Trinaldo vs. Jai Herbert
Nicolas Dalby vs. Jesse Ronson
Tom Aspinall vs. Jake Collier
Movsar Evloev vs. Mike Grundy
Tanner Boser vs. Raphael Pessoa
Bethe Correia vs. Pannie Kianzad
Ramazan Emeev vs. Niklas Stolze
Nathaniel Wood vs. John Castaneda
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