Marc Goddard deducted a point from Christian Leroy Duncan at UFC Vegas 122, and in a rare bit of insight into the mind of a referee, he’s now explained why.
On Saturday, Goddard served as the referee for the UFC Vegas 122 main event bout between Duncan and Brendan Allen. In the first round, Allen complained to Goddard about Duncan’s poking him during clinches, and in the second round, Duncan ended up poking Allen in the eyes during a striking exchange, causing a pause in the action. After Allen recovered, Goddard deducted a point from Duncan for the infraction, which, given the long history of MMA referees not deducting points on the first infraction, caught many fans by surprise.
On Sunday, Goddard responded to the incident on social media and explained why he took a point from Duncan.
I’d like to offer some clarity on this as I believe it’s a teachable moment & gives insight into what we are doing as officials to overcome certain obstacles.
As referees we go over the rules one to one with fighters in the back before the fight begins, here we specifically cover potential eyes pokes. If you watch you will hear me warn CLD in round one for outstretched fingers toward the face. I then again, before the start of the next round, ask him to be careful & mindful of the hands. It is then when the eye poke occurs do I take definitive action.
CLD is a credit to the sport of MMA & an exceptional athlete. There’s so much more,
mechanically to addressing eye pokes in MMA both preventatively (before the action) and correctively (after the action) it is very hard to expect an athlete to change 20 years of training & habit with a few minutes of conversation pre fight. Just know that both myself and my colleagues know it is a firm priority to address & fix this.All respect to the athletes & our sport. Thank you.
The point deduction ended up not mattering as Allen won the fight with a fifth-round rear-naked choke, taking the judges out of the equation.
