John McCarthy went off on one referee for the way he handled a preliminary fight at UFC 307.
Local referee Dave Seljestad was under fire for the way he officiated the middleweight fight between Cesar Almeida and Ihor Potieria, which kicked off Saturday’s UFC 307 televised prelims in Salt Lake City. Almeida won the bout by unanimous decision.
Seljestad failed to acknowledge numerous eye pokes that Almeida inflicted on Potieria, as well as separating Potieria from an advantageous clinch position just seconds after he grabbed a hold of Almeida. His actions left commentators baffled, and McCarthy, a renowned former referee, thinks Seljestad has no business being in the cage again.
“I’ll tell you what: The referee absolutely destroyed this fight. It was bad,” McCarthy said on his “Weighing In” podcast. “Potieria got eye poked probably five to six times in this thing. I know the referee. He’s been around forever. He’s been reffing in Utah for over 20 years. … Look at when he’s checking the fighters, and he starts doing this big swooping motion over the tape of the glove, and he makes it dramatic. You go, ‘Dude, I don’t know if you realize: This isn’t about you. No one gives a sh*t about you.’ He f*cking broke them off of clinches. Guy gets into a clinch on the fence, 10 seconds and he separates them and takes them apart.
“You look and you go, ‘It’s all about you, isn’t it?’ Congratulations, Dave Seljestad. You made a fight bad. You absolutely just sh*t the bed. It was horrible. You did something completely outside of what the rules for the sport are and what it’s intended for. Why? You let a guy get eye poked. How many times did you tell him, ‘Just fight’? Because you can’t see it? What are you in there for? You’re supposed to see these things. Then you’re looking at the wrong guy. The guy that’s continuously getting fouled, you’re not even looking at. Stop, quit, retire. The sport has passed you by, and you’re not doing your job, so you’re no good for anybody.”
UFC CEO Dana White said he missed the heavily criticized officiating by Seljestad but revealed that UFC senior vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner was not happy with the actions taken during Almeida’s fight with Potieria.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
