DFW: Yan vs. Aldo stoppage was horrible, horrible

Jose Aldo is the featherweight GOAT, and referee Leon Roberts afforded him every opportunity - and then some - to become champ champ vs. Petr Yan at UFC 251 on Saturday night. By the time the fight was stopped in Round 5. the commentators were loudly calling for the ref to call it, as was the hardcore MMA fanbase from in front of our televisions, as was, apparently, UFC president Dana White.

“I thought Aldo looked great, for people that were criticizing him saying he doesn’t deserve another title shot,” said White at the post-fight press conference. “Horrible, horrible stoppage by the referee. Should have been stopped way sooner. Looks like we’ve got to tighten up our refs and judges here on ‘Fight Island.’”

So what's next for Aldo, who has a long-term contract with the UFC?

“He just fought the best guy, the guy who’s lined up for the next title shot,” said White. “And he looked damn good doing it, he can do whatever he wants.”

https://youtu.be/i9Ht7hLFKso?t=124

h/t Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting

It was rough to watch... definitely could of been sooner, I was sad seeing a legend get beat like that when the fight was clearly over. Now we’re talking about this instead of how freaking good Petr Yan is......Fun to watch and he’s 27...

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Aldo can take it. It's the 5th round and for the belt. fuck it. If it hurt so bad he could tap.

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“He just fought the best guy, the guy who’s lined up for the next title shot”

Doesnt Yan have the title now?

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Yep, that was hard to watch.

I'd imagine it's possible for a fighter to get so rocked they enter limp mode and "forget" to simply just tap out. Thus the term "not intelligently defending yourself".

The ref did an ABYSMAL job in protecting the fighter. Just despicable.

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Awful reffing

aldo was done a minute or 2 before it was stopped .

Hang on.... On 1 hand we have Cruz saying his fight was stopped too early & now we have Dana saying this fight should  have been stopped sooner???? 

Poor refs. 

Oh, & the judges... They all got it wrong tonight? 

Shut the fuck up! Whinge whinge whinge.  Bad refs, bad judges! For fuck sake, that's the fight game. 

Don't leave it in the hands of the judges & the refs for that matter. 

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BringBackGoldy -

aldo was done a minute or 2 before it was stopped .

this.

Aldo's a warrior, and moved every time the ref told him to move, ref did a great job and stopped it when Aldo really wasn't defending himself.

Also Bisping really needed to STFU during that fight. You are there to commentate, not scream that the fight should be being stopped.

MarcusAurelioFan -

Aldo can take it. It's the 5th round and for the belt. fuck it. If it hurt so bad he could tap.

I was thinking the same until the 35th "fight back"

No it wasn't

it was for a belt, so there has to be a clear winner

Also, Aldo could have tapped or his corner could have stopped it.

Don't always blame the ref.

Aldo reacted and improved his possition every time he was asked to. He took a ton of damage, but it’s not like he was curled up for 2mins not reacting.

omnigath -

Hang on.... On 1 hand we have Cruz saying his fight was stopped too early & now we have Dana saying this fight should  have been stopped sooner???? 

Poor refs. 

Oh, & the judges... They all got it wrong tonight? 

Shut the fuck up! Whinge whinge whinge.  Bad refs, bad judges! For fuck sake, that's the fight game. 

Don't leave it in the hands of the judges & the refs for that matter. 

Dana used to crush Steve every fucking month, just to bash on Kizer

whinge?

116 unanswered blows was a too much imo.

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I don't know if it's because I'm older now, because of what's known about about CTE, or both, but watching a fighter take a totally unnecessary beating like that leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. 

Rabid Bunyip - 

“He just fought the best guy, the guy who’s lined up for the next title shot”

Doesnt Yan have the title now?

He’s referring to Moraes. I think we’re gonna get Yan/Moraes next.

That stoppage was almost as bad as the Chris Weidman vs luke rockhold fight. Unfortunately herb never stopped the beating Chris was taking from mount and he’s really never been the same. 

56sav -

I don't know if it's because I'm older now, because of what's known about about CTE, or both, but watching a fighter take a totally unnecessary beating like that leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. 

Never thought of this until now but maybe as the years go by and the sport evolves we will see refs having more tools to stop the fight? I mean, now it is about intelligent defense and although everything about it is subjective we often see fights when the ref has to defend himself afterwards saying "this is what we have to do", describing the rules they follow. He folded for 1 second, why did you stop the fight? "Because he folded, I make split-second decisions and cannot predict how long he will be unconscious for". Then we have these prolonged maulings where fighters do not really fight anymore but move. "Defend yourself, move!" the ref screams and they move, wiggle, and move their arms but everybody sees there is no way out of this, especially when exhaustion is in play and the opponent seems fresh and methodical. Maybe we will see something like "poor outlook" or "increasing inability to compete" as grounds for stopping a fight in the future as a way to enable refs to get fighters out who are still able to squirm a few times while being pounded but are unable to do ANYTHING more than that and have for a couple rounds shown nothing else, it is just "intelligent" but largely uneffective defense. Not saying it is the way to go but we might see something like that in a few years.

I for sure saw no way back for Aldo in that fight. Props for fighting spirit as always but after a point we did not see him coming back and winning which means it is pretty much Saku- proud, valiant abuse-taking.