Anderson Silva was defeated for Michael Bisping in the main fight of UFC Fight Night London, last Saturday (27), and saw his win drought in the organization increase, where he hasn't had his arm raised since 2012. However, everything could have been different at the end of the third round, when the Brazilian landed a knee in the English face in the final seconds of the match and left to celebrate, without continuing the attacks on the ground until the central referee interrupted. Bisping complained about the action, as his mouthguard had fallen off shortly before.
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Herb Dean, the experienced referee responsible for the fight, explained why he didn't stop the fight after the knee. But he hinted that if Spider had attacked English, the outcome would be different.
“At the time the round ended, Bisping was not unconscious. He was down and hurt, but he was looking at Anderson in a defensive posture and, seeing that, I couldn't stop the fight. If, instead of celebrating, Anderson had continued to attack, then that would have been a different story. But he was celebrating when the bell sounded, and only then did the round end”, said Dean, in an interview with the Combate channel website.
The referee also made it clear why he did not interrupt the dispute so that Bisping could replace his mouthguard, which validated Anderson's attack and the Brazilian's proximity to victory.
“I haven't seen the replay yet, but I'll tell you exactly what happened in the third round. Things got a little weird when Bisping started pointing at the mouth guard that had fallen out of his mouth. But the rule says that, to replace the protector, there can be no action. Anderson Silva was on the attack, so the fight was not stopped. He threw – and landed – a big knee and Bisping went down. The bell sounded and Anderson celebrated as if he had won, but I didn't stop the fight. Everyone came in, there was a big mess, but I said the fight would continue, that it wasn't over, and they fought two more rounds,” he concluded.
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