Chris Curtis was on the receiving end of another wonky reffing job at UFC Vegas 101.
“Action Man” and Roman Kopylov each had one round going into the third round of their middleweight bout on Saturday night. Then round three got interesting. Kopylov hit Curtis with a low blow and an eye poke, slowing down Curtis’ momentum. And then he landed a big head kick on Curtis that knocked him to the ground. But rather than swarm his opponent, who was getting back to his feet, Kopylov walked away.
The referee stopped the fight as Curtis was rising to his feet. Time left in the bout? 1 second.
This is one of those times where you know there are probably thousands of people who bet on Curtis-Kopylov going the distance that are crazy mad. Chris Curtis himself was crazy mad at the time too, and we don’t blame him for how that shook out. That fight probably shouldn’t have been stopped, but we don’t know what referee Mark Smith saw in Curtis’ eyes that made the decision for him.
According to legendary referee “Big” John McCarthy, though, he wouldn’t have stopped things.
“Going into the third, I had it 1-1,” McCarthy said (via Bloody Elbow). “It was obvious Kopylov was winning the third round, but the stoppage was bad. If Kopylov had gone after Chris, it would’ve been a good stoppage. You’ve gotta stop the fight when the person cannot defend themselves, and at that moment, there was nothing to defend against.”
“You’re taking a look at what happened with Curtis,” he continued. “Curtis got hurt, he got hit with a good kick and goes down on the side, but he’s looking towards his opponent to a point. And his opponent’s walking off? He has nothing to defend! Don’t stop the fight there.”
“If he’s out: stop the fight. But if he’s not, and his opponent’s walking off and you know I’ve already heard the [10 second clapper]. Counting off in my head if you’re doing the job correctly, I don’t stop the fight.”
The outcome wasn’t really changed, though. If the fight had gone that extra second and went to the judges, the decision would have gone to Kopylov anyways. Maybe that’s why Chris Curtis didn’t mention the incident in his post-fight statement (which was followed by a deactivation of all his social media accounts).
“Only job in the world where you can make $200k in a night and still be absolutely heartbroken and questioning where you go from here,” Curtis wrote on Instagram. “No damage, I’m fine. Probably train tomorrow for my sanity. But just frustrated and heartbroken. 8 months off. Hamstring tear, broken foot, and then a calf tear. Trained through it all. Never lost sight of the goal. Just hurts to come up short.”
“I guess I should take some comfort in Fight of the Night, but I only view tonight as a failure. Maybe 170 is the way to go from here.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
