Bruno Silva won’t like what “Big” John McCarthy had to say about the New Jersey commission’s handling of the controversial ending to his UFC on ESPN 54 fight with Chris Weidman.
This past Saturday, Weidman came away victorious after initially stopping Silva by ground-and-pound for a third-round TKO at Boardwalk Hall. The result was instantly called into question after a slow-motion replay showed Weidman egregiously poking Silva in both eyes a moment before the finishing sequence. Upon further review by referee Gary Copeland and the State Athletic Control Board, which regulated UFC on ESPN 54, the fight went to the judges’ scorecards because the fight entered Round 3, resulting still in an announced unanimous decision (but actually technical decision) win for Weidman.
The controversial outcome naturally upset Silva and didn’t sit well with many observers on social media, but McCarthy, a former referee and current PFL analyst, explained Monday on his “Weighing In” podcast that the commission ultimately got it right – even if he did take umbrage with Copeland’s lack of warnings against two previous Weidman eye pokes before the two that led to the finish.
