Tag: Marc Goddard

Why Marc Goddard won’t referee UFC champion Leon Edwards’ fights

Don’t expect Marc Goddard to referee UFC champion Leon Edwards’ upcoming fight – or any of his fights for that matter.

Don’t expect [autotag]Marc Goddard[/autotag] to referee UFC welterweight champion [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag]’ upcoming fight – or any of his fights for that matter.

Edwards (21-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his title in a rematch vs. Belal Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in the UFC 304 headliner July 27 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.

The renowned referee has officiated some of the biggest fights in UFC history and has had the likes of Colby Covington disagree with him on certain stoppages. But that’s not why Goddard won’t referee Edwards’ fights. The Brit has a pretty valid reason.

“Here’s a classic case: Leon Edwards. You’ve never seen me referee Leon Edwards in the UFC, and you never will. Why? Because I was Leon Edwards’ first MMA coach,” Goddard said on the Overdogs Podcast. Way, way, way back when he was just an amateur. But again, the common-sense element for me, even though the link is so – who knew then when Leon first walked into that gym as a raw amateur, a raw novice with no experience? Now look at him.

“UFC welterweight champion of the world, but you’ve never saw me referee him, and you never will because we just keep it out of the way. I just don’t want any hassle, and I don’t want to be put in a predicament where I’m making a call that could go against him, so it’s both ways.”

There are other fights Goddard has preferred not to referee but for personal reasons. He gave an example of Israel Adesanya and when he refereed his title fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 281. Pereira scored a standing TKO of Adesanya, who immediately protested the stoppage. Adesanya insisted it was early, but Goddard stood by his call.

“Do you remember when Israel Adesanya fought Pereira for the second time in Miami? I specifically requested not to do that fight,” Goddard continued. “The reason I requested not to do the fight was because I was thinking about Izzy, I was thinking about him. Me and him are fine. I’ve refereed him since, I’ve refereed his fight with Sean Strickland, but I actually removed myself because what I didn’t want to do was for Izzy to have me walk into the dressing room.

“I was thinking of the fighter then. ‘This is his night, it’s all about him.’ I didn’t want to walk into that dressing room and him to have any form of negative connotation or something like that. So, I just thought that the right thing to do and the fairest thing to do by him is just stay out of the fight and give it to another ref, and I requested from the commission not to do it. There’s been a couple of incidents where there’s certain fighters that I would rather not (referee) for personal reasons.”

[lawrence-related id=2734667,2673273,576773]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.

UFC 300 video shows Marc Goddard downright in disbelief as Max Holloway knocked out Justin Gaethje

Marc Goddard was all of us as one of the most iconic knockouts in UFC history happened right before his eyes.

Marc Goddard had the same reaction we all did when [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] knocked out [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] – even while refereeing the fight.

Goddard was tasked as the third man in the cage for the BMF title fight between Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) and Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), which took place Saturday at UFC 300 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Holloway was in firm control of the fight until he decided to risk it all in the final 10 seconds when he pointed to the middle of the octagon and invited Gaethje to throw down. The pair got into some wild exchanges until Holloway knocked Gaethje out cold with just one second remaining.

Everyone in the arena lost their minds, and Goddard couldn’t help himself either. He wished everyone got to see his reaction, and the UFC granted that wish. Check out Goddard’s reaction below!

Goddard also had this to say about Holloway’s iconic moment.

“I’m still speechless. Still have goosebumps. Both of these guys are the epitome of our sport. Sheer class. What a privilege.”

[lawrence-related id=2734553,2734226,2732465,2734101]

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

Merab Dvalishvili upset with stoppage of Aljamain Sterling’s UFC 292 loss: ‘Now I have Marc Goddard phobia’

Merab Dvalishvili protests referee Marc Goddard’s call to stop the fight in Aljamain Sterling’s UFC 292 loss.

[autotag]Merab Dvalishvili[/autotag] is not at all happy with referee [autotag]Marc Goddard[/autotag].

The UFC bantamweight contender has a history with the veteran official, and it just got worse after seeing his friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling lose his 135-pound title to Sean O’Malley this past Saturday in the main event of UFC 292 in Boston.

Dvalishvili (16-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) claims Goddard did a poor job in officiating the fight by stopping the bout prematurely in the second round. Dvalishvili thought Sterling, who won the first round on the judges’ scorecards, was doing well and deserved a better chance in the fight.

“Aljo was doing what he was supposed to do,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “He was there. He was playing smart. He was fighting a smart fight. Of course, the plan was to take Sean down, but Sean was doing good footwork and everything.

“In the second round, people start booing Aljo and people affect Aljo, and Aljo made the decision to close the distance and strike. That’s when Sean got him, but Aljo was still in. He was fighting. He was trying to grab the leg, and he turned on the side, and that’s when Marc Goddard stopped him. It was my opinion, as a fighter, I say it was an early stoppage.”

Sterling was dropped by a right hand early in the second round. Once on the ground, O’Malley landed ground-and-pound for about 15 seconds before Goddard intervened. It’s true that Sterling wasn’t fully knocked out, but he was taking several shots while trying to get to a better position.

Dvalishvili thinks Goddard should’ve let the champion go out on his shield.

“Me for example, when I’m fighting, I rather die,” Dvalishvili said. “I rather go out. I rather sleep. I don’t want you to save me, I’m a fighter. That’s why I’m preparing. I rather get knocked out because we need months, sometimes one year, to fight. It’s not like we’re fighting every day.

“You see now what happened to the champion. If you gave them a chance, it wasn’t a cold knockout, you know. That was it, but Aljo handled it very well like a champion. Me, right away, I was screaming, ‘Early stoppage. Early stoppage.'”

[lawrence-related id=2672814,2672582,2672563]

Dvalishvili and Goddard have history. In 2018, when Dvalishvili fought Ricky Simon in his second UFC fight, Dvalishvili lost the fight by technical submission despite seeing out the entire 15 minutes of the fight. It was after the fight, that it was ruled Simon had choked out Dvalishvili, not allowing the fight to go to the scorecards.

To this day, Dvalishvili claims he was in all his senses and that Goddard fumbled the call.

“Marc Goddard was the side referee, and the main referee who was inside the cage let me fight,” Dvalishvili recalled. “He don’t stop the fight because he knew, and he saw my eyes, I was still fighting. Of course, I was in a tough spot, but every time he checked my hand, I give thumbs up. I was good. I was showing.

“Once Ricky Simon got me, of course the choke was tight. It was hard to run from there, but I knew I had one minute. I wasn’t going to tap in that fight, and I was going to fight it because I was winning the fight. The main referee gave me time, and he let me fight. He didn’t stop me because if he did, I would’ve protest, ‘I’m not sleeping, why did you stop it.’

“When the bell rung and the fight was over, I wake up and said I’m good. Yeah, so it was going to go to score. … but Marc Goddard said I was sleeping with the choke, but if I was sleeping or choked out, why didn’t you stop me? You let me fight and now let’s go to the score. This is a technical TKO or submission after the bell rang, and the fight was over. I moved on, but now I have Marc Goddard phobia. Every time I see the man, I’m just panicking.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=420030788]

Combat Rewind, May 23: Recognize who this famous MMA referee is?

Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

  • PRIDE – Bushido 3: [autotag]Takanori Gomi[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ralph Gracie[/autotag] – May 23, 2004
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2009: [autotag]Yana Kunitskaya[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Magdalena Jarecka[/autotag] – May 23, 2009
  • Cage Rage 6: [autotag]Andy Costello[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marc Goddard[/autotag] – May 23, 2004
  • King of the Cage – Future Legends 29: [autotag]Brian McCammon[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jesse Hernandez[/autotag] – May 23, 2015
  • PRIDE – Bushido 3: [autotag]Akira Shoji[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Yukio Kawabe[/autotag] – May 23, 2004

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Combat Rewind – May 23

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.