Daniel Cormier and John McCarthy react to the “worst” officiating in UFC history

Daniel Cormier and John McCarthy were among several members of the MMA community to share their disgust with referee Vyacheslav Kiselev.

Kiselev was the referee in charge of handling today’s UFC 267 welterweight bout between Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Benoit Saint-Denis.

The bout proved to be a one-sided contest, with Dos Santos cruising to a lopsided unanimous decision victory (29-26 x3).

However, the big story was not the fight itself but the officiating, or lack there of. In the second round the Brazilian rocked Saint-Denis with a big right hand. Dos Santos proceeded to land punches in bunches, followed by knees and other strikes. Somehow, the Frenchman got back to his feet and the onslaught continued. Eventually Benoit Saint-Denis began to retreat and turned his back on the Brazilian.

Daniel Cormier was among many screaming for the fight to be stopped, and even Dos Santos seemed to gesture at referee Vyacheslav Kiselev as if to ask “are you going to stop this or what?”.

Unfortunately, Kiselev did not step in and the fight was allowed to continue. Although Saint-Denis survived to see the final bell, it was clear the referee had failed to do his job.

Following the fight former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier and veteran referee John McCarthy took to social media where the proceeded to slam Vyacheslav Kiselev.

Holy Hell, @marcgoddard_uk @MarcRatnerUFC I just watched the worst job of officiating at an @UFC event ever!!! Please just don’t let him do another fight….. EVER!!!

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) October 30, 2021

“Holy Hell, @marcgoddard_uk, @MarcRatnerUFC I just watched the worst job of officiating at an UFC event ever!!! Please just don’t let him do another fight….. EVER!!!” – McCarthy tweeted.

Honestly the worst performance I have seen from a referee in my life. Honestly a hard job but man unreal. Makes you respect the good ones like @JasonHerzogMMA @JohnMcCarthyMMA @HerbDeanMMA and many more. I hated watching that I hope Benoit is heading to hospital right now !

— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 30, 2021

“Honestly the worst performance I have seen from a referee in my life. Honestly a hard job but man unreal. Makes you respect the good ones like @JasonHerzogMMA, @JohnMcCarthyMMA, @HerbDeanMMA and many more. I hated watching that I hope Benoit is heading to hospital right now!” – Daniel Cormier wrote.

Vyacheslav Kiselev was slated to officiate today’s UFC 267 main card bout between Magomed Ankalaev and Volkan Oezdemir, but was pulled from the event due to his earlier performance.