According to former referee John McCarthy, Herb Dean would have been well within his rights to penalize UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili for his actions against Sean O'Malley.
Dvalishvili secured his long-awaited crowning moment on mixed martial arts' biggest stage at this month's UFC 306 (Noche UFC) pay-per-view. The Georgian topped the lineup, staged inside the unique surroundings of the Sphere, in competition for O'Malley's title.
While "Suga" was able to find the fight-ending blow against Dvalishvili's friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling last year to capture the gold, that wasn't the case on September 14.
Instead, "The Machine" used his renowned gas tank and grappling abilities to earn the nod on all three scorecards. But while there was little debate over the decision, there's been plenty of discussion surrounding other aspects of the fight.
In addition to a verbal altercation between Dvalishvili and O'Malley's coach in the opening moments of round one, the second stanza came to a close with controversy after the Georgian used his dominant position to repeatedly kiss the champ's back.
The moment almost ended in disaster for Dvalishvili, who took the referee's calls to stop as the end of the round and turned his back on O'Malley with seconds remaining, leading to him eating a strike.
But according to McCarthy, Dvalishvili would have faced further consequences had he been officiating the UFC 306 main event...
McCarthy Recalls Docking Fighter 2 Points For Kissing Opponent In Light Of UFC 306 Moment
During a recent episode of his Weighing In podcast alongside former Strikeforce and UFC fighter Josh Thomson, McCarthy looked back on how Dean officiated the September 14 main event in Las Vegas.
On the topic of Dvalishvili's back kisses toward the end of round two, McCarthy recalled how he dealt with a similar situation during his days as an active referee.
I've been in this position where I had a fighter kiss another fighter. You look and you go...'What the f*ck did you just do?' It takes you a second to realize, 'You just f*cking kissed him!' Then it's a matter of how you are going to deal with it," McCarthy said. "I took two points from him. You want to do something that is absolutely not part of our sport, nobody asked you to do it, nobody wants you to do it, and you want to be cute? Congratulations, you better go finish the fight now. I can disqualify you if I want.
When that happened, Herb was caught off guard, let's just be honest," McCarthy continued. "He should have either made a decisive, 'Stop! Time, you get over there, you get over there,' and do something about what just occurred. If he wants to give him a hard warning over it, that's fine. If he wants to take points, take points for unsportsmanlike conduct, that's fine. But he got caught in the middle of it.
O'Malley and his coach, Tim Welch, have since given their own verdict on the moment, suggesting that had the referee kept completely out of the way, "Suga" could have launched a potentially fight-ending head kick from behind.
Alas, that wasn't to be, and Dvalishvili instead ground out a convincing victory on the scorecards. But with some referees evidently favoring stern punishment for his actions inside the Sphere, perhaps he'll be a little less keen to place his lips on his next opponent.
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