Big John defends Bendo stoppage
source | mmafighting.com
“This is what it comes down to, a referee is not there to make the fans happy,” he said. “I am there for the safety of the fighter. It all comes down to…there’s many things we have to live with in our life, but when a fighter goes unconscious in a fight, and you’re in a position where you see it, and you realize he’s unconscious, there are times when a fighter can hit the ground or be hit again and wake back up. But if you’ve come in to stop the fight, the fight’s over and you’re doing it for the safety of the fighter. Because you can’t predict the future. And to sit there and say, well you can wait and let that person get hit and see if they come back…and then stop it, that’s not what you do for the safety of the fighter. You’ve to make a decision.”
“Benson got hit with several things that hurt him, and when Benson is just a tough fighter. When he got hit with a left/right hand that hurt him, and he stood his ground and started firing back, and then he got hurt with a knee that ended up putting him down and when he tried to get up he got hit with the left hand, and when he got hit with the left hand, he went unconscious. I saw him go unconscious, and that was the reason the fight came to an end and I would make the exact same decision 100 times.”