Nelson's attitude caused controversy. Photo: Reproduction
Fired by the UFC in 2014 after pushing the referee of his fight, Jason High considers that Roy Nelson should not be released by the organization after kicking mediator “Big” John McCarthy in the UFC Brasilia.
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At the time, Nelson was angry with McCarthy for the supposed delay in stopping his fight against Antonio Pezão. The American, a personal friend of his opponent, considered that he had to throw more blows than necessary before the referee intervened.
High does not agree with Nelson's attitude, but believes that dismissal would be an excessively harsh punishment. “I don’t think what he did was right. It wasn't even a bad interruption, and the fighter's job is to keep fighting until the referee stops it, not to stop the fight himself. But that doesn't mean the guy needs to be fired. I don’t want anyone to lose the ability to feed their family,” he said, in an interview with the North American website “MMA Fighting”.
The dismissal case involving High was surrounded by controversy. The athlete pushed referee Kevin Mulhall for disagreeing with the interruption made in his fight against Rafael dos Anjos, which he ended up losing via technical knockout. High was summarily sent away by White, who explained that no fighter has the right to touch the referee.
High still disagrees with the episode to this day. “This is something that needs to change. The UFC is so big that they can do whatever they want”, he lamented.
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