Sherdog’s Top 10: Officiating Blunders

2. John McCarthy Believes Sakuraba is Out Cold While Shooting on Silveira

At UFC Japan 1, “Big” John McCarthy wasn’t aware of how much punishment Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba was able to withstand. During the early stages of the great referee’s career, McCarthy couldn’t tell the difference between a man who was out cold and one who was shooting for a takedown. About 100 seconds into his match with Marcus Silveira, Sakuraba defended an arm lock and got back to his feet. From there, all hell broke loose.

Silveira cracked Sakuraba with a decent right hand, but it wasn’t anything special. Sakuraba covered up and blocked every single one of Silveira’s follow-up punches and then quickly dove down to attack the Brazilian’s left leg, looking for a takedown. At that point, McCarthy inexplicably thought Sakuraba had been knocked out and ended the fight.

While Sakuraba and his corner vehemently complained about the stoppage, McCarthy was adamant, saying, “No! He was out!” before walking away. It’s one thing to stop a fight too early when a guy is genuinely rocked, but to stop it when a fighter is blocking everything before shooting in for a takedown is another.

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