The welterweight division’s gatekeeper, Neil Magny, found himself in a rather unusual situation at UFC Perth in his fight against Jake Matthews. Although he went on to win the fight, ‘The Haitian Sensation’ seemed like he was done and out in the first round after being trapped in a guillotine choke. The referee, Jim Perdios, appeared to have called off the fight in the first round, with just a second to go for the round to end. However, that wasn’t the official end of the fight.

Jake Matthews began celebrating after the referee stopped the fight, but the fight proceeded to the next round. This led to Neil Magny making a strong comeback, as the fight went to the third round after he almost found himself going to sleep in the first round. What came next was something that Matthews may not have expected.

When the third round commenced, Neil Magny got the upper hand. He trapped Matthews in a d’Arce choke, and it did not take long before ‘The Haitian Sensation’ got the win. The tables were turned, and what seemed like a win for Matthews ended up being the total opposite.

This referee error has caused a massive uproar in the MMA community, with bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, among others, expressing his displeasure with the referee. Here’s what they had to say.

Neil Magny won, but fans want the referee gone

Merab Dvalishvili was clearly triggered by the referee’s error in stopping the fight in the first round and then letting it continue after finding out that Neil Magny did not tap out. Nevertheless, he was happy to see that the fight continued. “Another mistake by referee, but thank God Fight still on,” ‘The Machine’ wrote on X. On the other hand, there were calls for the UFC to get rid of Jim Perdios, with posts like, “Fire ref immediately.” 

Well, the referee may have made an error in judgment, but fans believe the bell saved him from further embarrassment. “The ref saving his own a–….lucky b—–d because the round was over. He stopped it at 0:01. He got lucky,” wrote a fan. But some fans believe that the referee may have saved his job, but the ending of the fight was justified since the fight shouldn’t have ended in the first round. “This is my read as well. Terrible officiating, but we ended up in the right spot LOL.”

Neil Magny’s win wasn’t something that came as a surprise to the fans because they expected him to come back strong and beat Jake Matthews, given his experience as a veteran. On that note, a user on X wrote, “Death, taxes, and a third-round Magny comeback.” Some fans backed Matthews and urged him to make an appeal against the referee who cost him the fight. “Matthews and his team gotta be filing an appeal ASAP, ref stopped the fight in RD 1,” a fan wrote in that regard. At the end of the day, the popular sentiment among fans was that the “ref got lucky there was 1 second left in the round so he could fake it lol.”

What do you make of the referee error in the Neil Magny vs Jake Matthews fight? Should Dana White take action against him? Drop your comments below.