The UFC has completed one event on its return to airing fight cards from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main event of UFC Vegas 5 featured a 3 round Middleweight contest between Derek Brunson and Edmen Shahbazyan. However, Dana White wasn’t pleased with the way it was handled. 

The clash saw the veteran dominate and mercilessly pound the 22-year-old towards the end of the 2nd round. ‘The Golden Boy’ managed to survive but had a huge cut on his face which prompted the doctor to take a look at it. Here, the referee spoke to the fighter for a while and let the match continue.

However, he stopped it soon thereafter following Brunson sending his opponent to the canvas yet again. 

“Wow God is So Good!”- Derek Brunson With an Emotional Message After Victory

In the post-fight media interaction, via The Mac Life, Dana White addressed the events and feels that inexperience showed. He said, “Shahbazyan looked like he was out at the end of that round…First of all that was obviously inexperienced, I don’t know anything about the doctor, I’ve never seen him before.“

The UFC President believes that Brunson had caused such damage that no one would have faulted the referee for calling it at that point. 

Dana White slams the handling of the UFC Vegas 5 main event

He said, “You got Brunson who ends that round strong. Many could argue that fight could have been stopped right there at the end of the round. Sure the guy thought he would have time to go back.”

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However, the incident in the extended pause between rounds peeved him as he said, “What you don’t do is talk to the guy for f***ing ten minutes while he’s hurt. Either stop the fight or let him continue.”

Dana White feels Herb Dean should have taken charge and continued the fight or stopped it. This must have been due to the norm of referees only granting extended breaks for infringements such as accidental groin strikes or eye pokes. 

He concluded, “You’re letting the kid recover while you got Brunson, who’s just waiting for the bell to ring so that he can go on and finish the fight. Pull the trigger, one way or the other, just stop the fight or don’t.”

The incident could have stemmed from Herb Dean getting criticized for a delayed stoppage at last week’s event on Fight Island. On the night, he let Francisco Trinaldo continue despite him having knocked his opponent out cold.

CRAZY! Twitter Blasts Into Referee Herb Dean for Not Stopping the Fight

Hence, here he saw a chance to let the fight play out but stopped it as soon as it was clear that Shahbazyan could not defend himself. 

What did you make of the events between rounds two and three in the UFC Vegas 5 main event?

Sources: ESPN MMA-Twitter, The Mac Life-YouTube