Retired referee John McCarthy faults Gary Copeland’s controversial decision

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Retired refereeing official John McCarthy found fault with Gary Copeland’s decision to hand Chris Weidman a TKO victory over Bruno Silva at UFC 168.

The middleweight bout ended in favour of whom McCarthy wanted, but not the way he had preferred.

During the fight which happened at Atlantic City, Weidman kept poking his opponent’s eyes with outstretched fingers. The referee did not try to warn him that this was against the rules, according to the retired official.

Speaking during a Weighing In podcast, McCarthy shared his thoughts as follows:

‘When you get there, you want to do it because you feel like you’re part of something and it’s awesome to be there and I totally understand that.

‘But in this situation, when Gary Copeland has Chris Weidman, who is putting his fingers out Josh, he’s extending his fingers out like it’s a pitchfork, you need to address that as the official.

‘I don’t care that you’re in New Jersey where Chris Weidman is a hero.

‘I’m being honest, I wanted Chris Weidman to win this fight, I think you wanted Chris Weidman to win this fight, but I can’t have Chris Weidman getting preferential treatment as far as you’re the one that’s creating this problem.

‘Instead of just saying, “Oh, it’s an eye poke, let me get him a towel,” and stuff like that, you need to address the problem and make sure the individual who is creating the problem doesn’t do it anymore. Well, he did do it more.’