Not every fighter, fan, and analyst is piling in on Jason Herzog for his questionable refereeing at UFC Abu Dhabi.
Alongside praise for strong performances from the likes of Reinier de Ridder, Petr Yan, and Sharabutdin Magomedov, Herzog’s work inside the cage has emerged as a leading talking point to come from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night.
Making the walk at Etihad Arena was hometown star Mohammad Yahya. Things did not go to plan for the Emirati fighter in front of his compatriots, as he was badly beaten by Steven Nguyen — to the tune of a record number of knockdowns.
Most had seen enough after the first few, but that wasn’t even the case for the referee after he’d seen eight knockdowns (six officially recorded by the UFC). It ultimately took Herzog seeing the state of Yahya’s swollen left eye in the corner to call the bout off after the second round.
The veteran official was widely slammed for his decision-making in the fight, but he is not without some support in the aftermath.
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Aljamain Sterling supports Jason Herzog’s decision not to stop UFC Abu Dhabi fight sooner
During the latest episode of his podcast, The Weekly Scraps, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling gave a surprisingly supportive take on Herzog’s controversial refereeing at UFC Abu Dhabi.
‘Funk Master’ has been vocal in the past about his thoughts on how he lost the 135-pound title. Sterling was stopped by Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 292, but he insisted that referee Marc Goddard had stopped the fight far too early.
That evidently still influences his thoughts on refereeing, as Sterling praised Herzog for giving Yahya every chance and wished he would have been given the same treatment in the past.
“Bro, he’s in Abu Dhabi, he’s an Emirati,” Sterling said. “(Herzog’s) trying to give him (Yahya) every fighting chance he could.
“Kudos to him. I wish I got a fair shake like that in some of my fights; I’m not gonna say which ones,” he added.
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Aljamain Sterling is not the only one defending Jason Herzog
Sterling is not alone with his views on Herzog’s refereeing in the Middle East.
Former UFC fighter Din Thomas also defended referee Herzog during ESPN’s UFC Fight Night Post Show, stating he was fine with the decision to let Yahya keep fighting given that it was a home fight.
“I am not one to allow a ref to let a fighter have a moral victory, but this was a situation where I was like, ‘Okay,’” Thomas said.
“This guy, he hasn’t had a win in the UFC. This guy comes out in front of his hometown and puts up that gutsy performance.
“I am okay with letting him go a little bit longer,” Thomas added.