Khamzat Chimaev thoroughly dominated Dricus Du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event last weekend in Chicago to capture the middleweight championship. He repeatedly put the South African on his back and controlled “Stillknocks” on the ground for nearly the entire five-round fight.
In the final round, referee Marc Goddard stood the fighters up after 22 minutes of Chimaev’s grappling dominance. Goddard stood them up a second time late in the final frame. Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker questioned the referee’s motives.
“Terrible stand-up. He just wanted to give Dricus a chance to throw bombs,” Whittaker said on the MMArcade Podcast. “Man, you can’t do (that). He’s controlled, at this point, 22 minutes of ground time in the match and you stand him up when he’s at his most tired to give a (chance). You can’t do that, man.
“But not once, not just once. Twice. He even broke them up when he was on the wall. It’s Chimaev’s best position. That was terrible in my opinion,” continued Whittaker.
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The stand-ups in the final round ultimately led to Du Plessis’ biggest moments in the fight.
“That’s because his best mate gave him a hand,” Whittaker said.
“The thing is, I don’t understand why you would stand him up if he’s done it for 22 minutes of the entire fight. It’s not like one dude was just taking him down to wait. No, he’s been doing this since the first 20 seconds of the fight. That blows my mind,” continued the former champion. “Like, he just gave Dricus a shot, twice, a chance.”
