Marc Goddard responds after Colby Covington calls him a “Fake Ref”

Referee Marc Goddard had the responsibility of overseeing last night’s UFC 245 main event between welterweights Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman.

The highly anticipated scrap lived up to expectations as ‘Chaos’ and ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ proceeded to go to war right from the opening bell.

After 20 minutes of thrilling standup action, the three judges in attendance had the bout all even heading into the fifth and final round (3-1 Usman, 3-1 Covington, and 2-2).

In round five it was Usman who found that extra gear, as he was able to drop Covington on multiple occasions before swarming him with ground and pound. After taking a close look at the action, referee Marc Goddard had seen enough and stepped in and called the fight due to ground strikes.

Image Credit: @ufc on Instagram

Covington, who appeared to still be intelligently defending himself, immediately shot to his feet and disputed the decision.

Later that same evening, Colby Covington would take to Twitter where he ripped Marc Goddard for being a “fake” referee and also suggested that the UK official for robbing him.

Normally people do their fucking in the bedroom, not the octagon @marcgoddard_uk! I go in there to kill or be killed. You robbed me of that. You robbed the people of a fair fight. You should be ashamed of yourself. Fake nut shot. Fake eye poke. Fake stoppage. Fake ref. #ufc245

— Colby Covington (@ColbyCovMMA) December 15, 2019

“Normally people do their f*cking in the bedroom, not the octagon @marcgoddard_uk! I go in there to kill or be killed. You robbed me of that. You robbed the people of a fair fight. You should be ashamed of yourself. Fake nut shot. Fake eye poke. Fake stoppage. Fake ref. #ufc245”

‘Chaos‘ was not the only one that thought the fight was stopped a bit prematurely, former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson had the following to say about the stoppage.

Colby was up 3-1 on one judges card and the other two had it tied going into the 5th 2-2. Bottom line, he lost the 5th but that stoppage was a bad stoppage in a title fight. He was hurt but not done fighting. Bottom line, good fight by both guys. Congrats to @USMAN84kg #andstill

— Josh Thomson (@THEREALPUNK) December 15, 2019

“Colby was up 3-1 on one judges card and the other two had it tied going into the 5th 2-2. Bottom line, he lost the 5th but that stoppage was a bad stoppage in a title fight. He was hurt but not done fighting. Bottom line, good fight by both guys. Congrats to @USMAN84kg #andstill”

Most recently, Marc Goddard took to social media where he defended his decision and overall work in the industry.

https://twitter.com/marcgoddard_uk/status/1206286136898936832

“Raw emotion & the highest of stakes, fighting is like nothing else on earth. I respect each & every person I stand between & I will give you all I’ve got. I am a human being. Thank you to all who understand what I have put into this game, that will never stop. God bless. ❤️”

What do you think of Marc Goddard’s reply to Colby Covington? Do you feel the UFC 245 main event was stopped prematurely? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!