Khamzat Chimaev won a lopsided decision to beat Dricus du Plessis to become middleweight champion at UFC 319 but his dominant ground attacks were thwarted more by referee Marc Goddard than his actual opponent.
The Chechen mauler spent more than 20 minutes in control with du Plessis almost completely nullified with no real chance of escape. But the referee had different ideas when he actually stood the fight up twice in the later rounds, taking away Chimaev’s dominant position and giving du Plessis a restart
on the feet.
Ultimately it didn’t matter because Chimaev eventually just scored another takedown but middleweight contender Reinier de Ridder did not appreciate Goddard’s decision to take away that position during the fight.
“I think what the ref did was totally wrong,” de Ridder told MMA Fighting. “Marc Goddard standing them up, that was very bad. I don’t think that was a good plan at all. Because Khamzat was in control, he was raining down punches, he was trying. I don’t think Marc Goddard should have interfered there.”
While de Ridder understands the criticism that Chimaev could have taken more risks to potentially finish the fight, it wasn’t like he was stalled out or refusing the press the action.
Chimaev may not have been raining down hell on du Plessis during every second the fight was on the ground but he was constantly staying busy, looking to advance his position and dishing out punishment without ever really slowing down.
“Khamzat was controlling so well,” de Ridder said. I do understand that he didn’t want to take too much risk but I would have liked see him try a bit more with the ground and pound and everything … [but] I thought those [standups] were very bad.”
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, who actually lost by submission when he faces Chimaev, had almost an identical reaction when he was breaking down the fight on his podcast.
Whittaker didn’t understand the move from Goddard to stand the fight up, especially with how dominant Chimaev was with his grappling throughout the five-round affair.
“Terrible standup,” Whittaker said. “He just wanted to give Dricus a chance to throw bombs. You can’t do [that]. He’s controlled at this point 22 minutes of ground time in the match. You stand him up when he’s at his most tired. You can’t do that!
“But not once, not just once — twice! He even broke them up when he was on the wall, Chimaev’s best position. That was terrible, in my opinion.”
Clearly two of the top middleweights didn’t agree with Goddard’s decision as referee but it didn’t stop Chimaev from continuously putting du Plessis back on the canvas and maintaining control until the final horn sounded.
When it was all over, Chimaev swept the scorecards from the judges and he was crowned the new middleweight champion with a one-sided victory over du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event.
