‘Big’ John McCarthy & Marc Goddard break down UFC 208 late strikes

While this past weekend’s Holm vs. De Randamie main event was a good one, it was the UFC 208 late strikes that had fight fans talking. This past weekend at UFC 208, Germaine de Randamie and Holly Holm stepped into the Octagon for a highly anticipated scrap for the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight championship.

The fight was an extremely competitive one, that ultimately saw De Randamie capture the inaugural title, defeating Holm via unanimous decision to claim the women’s featherweight title. With that being said, the fight was quite controversial, with Germaine De Randamie tagging Holm with big punches moments after the bell rang on two separate occasions. While many believe De Randamie should have lost points for the incidents, referees ‘Big’ John McCarthy and Marc Goddard both took to social media to explain why De Randamie didn’t lose points for the incidents:

McCarthy explained in a Twitter Q&A:

“The round officially ends at the call of the referee. The bell is their notification. It is actually for the corner people to get ready for the break. It does help the referee in knowing when the round should end.”

Marc Goddard echoed a similar statement, responding to UFC vet Dan Hardy, who said:

“I don’t believe it’s the fighters responsibility to listen for the bell. There is a lot going on in there. It’s easy to miss it.”

Marc Goddard responded by saying:

“Correct Mr. Hardy, In vast majority they do hear and respond, but it’s up to us as refs to audibly, physically stop.”

Following the fight, De Randamie released a statement on the matter, saying:

“I do wanna say I’m not a dirty fighter. I respect Holly Holm to the fullest and never did I hit her intentionally after the bell. The first time the referee told me it was a clean shot and second time it was absolutely in the heat of the moment. My apologies to Holly and her camp if they think I did it intentionally because that was absolutely NOT the case.”

on 2/14/2017.