John McCarthy shares his thoughts on the stoppages from referee Herb Dean at UFC Vegas 19

John McCarthy has assessed Herb Dean’s performance at UFC Vegas 19.

In the main event of the card, Dean was the third man in the Octagon for Derrick Lewis vs Curtis Blaydes. In the early going, Dean was doing a solid job monitoring the eye pokes. Yet, as Lewis landed the KO punch, “The Black Beast” followed it up with some more shots. He said it was Herb Dean’s fault, but John McCarthy believes Dean did everything he was supposed to.

“When Curtis Blaydes gets hit by Derrick Lewis, yeah he is out. Does Derrick need to hit him again? No, he doesn’t, that’s on him,” John McCarthy said on his Weighing In podcast. “But, if Blaydes hits the ground and by hitting the ground it brings him back, and Derrick Lewis is walking away, Herb is going to stand there and go ‘you should’ve gone after him.’ Derrick did what he was supposed to do.

“The problem for Herb in that one, Herb is behind him. He has to move, Derrick is going forward toward Blaydes, Herb is trying to close that gap based upon where he was at when the knockout punch actually landed. Blaydes falls away from him so he has to get in there,” McCarthy continued. “Does Derrick Lewis land a couple of extra shots, yeah. Trust me, that time for Herb is going in slow motion, He is trying to get there as fast as he can and it seems like it is taking forever, it is very fast. Derrick Lewis is able to land a lot of shots in one second of time.”

There is no question the follow-up shots were not necessary. But, as John McCarthy points out, if Blaydes gets his conscience back as he hit the ground, people would be criticizing Lewis for not finishing the fight.

What do you make of these comments from John McCarthy?