- Joined
- Apr 21, 2006
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First of all, I must say that I'm hardly a Bisping fan. I'm not the biggest fan of Silva either. I just wanted to watch a quality fight, no matter who wins at the end.
I think what Herb Dean did was a disgrace to the sport and the referees as a whole. He must be penalized for apparently putting one of the fighters at risk to lose 2-3 of his teeth. I'm not saying that he should have stopped the fight when they were exchanging (*although I find nothing bad in this as well), but Bisping retreated because his mouthguard slipped off and made sure to go on safe distance and demand the ref to do what he should - call a break and give his mouthguard back. Instead Herb Dean was absolutely aware of the accident and for some reason he refused to call a stop when no action has been going.
He basically put one of the fighters at risk. The goal of the referee is to keep the health of the fighters as a top priority.
I know it from first hand exprience how hard it is to suffer damage to your teeth. I had a similar situation at the past which basically ended my passion to box and compete in MMA. I was doing a sparring session at the boxing gym with a moutguard on (but I knew it was a bad one, it was very hard and I was going to replace it soon anyways) and I did the mistake to accept the sparring with that guy. What was going to be a "light sparring session" turned to be not so light. I ate a some punches and at the end of the round I was bleeding from the mouth. Later it happened that 3-4 of my front teeth has been badly damaged as a consequence. My dentist told me that I've been lucky that my front teeth didn't turn black (dead).
I will never forget that feeling when I realised that this could be the end of my passion to the sport.
Now try to think what could have happened to Bisping if Anderson's knee landed on his mouth (without any sort of protection).
I think what Herb Dean did was a disgrace to the sport and the referees as a whole. He must be penalized for apparently putting one of the fighters at risk to lose 2-3 of his teeth. I'm not saying that he should have stopped the fight when they were exchanging (*although I find nothing bad in this as well), but Bisping retreated because his mouthguard slipped off and made sure to go on safe distance and demand the ref to do what he should - call a break and give his mouthguard back. Instead Herb Dean was absolutely aware of the accident and for some reason he refused to call a stop when no action has been going.
He basically put one of the fighters at risk. The goal of the referee is to keep the health of the fighters as a top priority.
I know it from first hand exprience how hard it is to suffer damage to your teeth. I had a similar situation at the past which basically ended my passion to box and compete in MMA. I was doing a sparring session at the boxing gym with a moutguard on (but I knew it was a bad one, it was very hard and I was going to replace it soon anyways) and I did the mistake to accept the sparring with that guy. What was going to be a "light sparring session" turned to be not so light. I ate a some punches and at the end of the round I was bleeding from the mouth. Later it happened that 3-4 of my front teeth has been badly damaged as a consequence. My dentist told me that I've been lucky that my front teeth didn't turn black (dead).
I will never forget that feeling when I realised that this could be the end of my passion to the sport.
Now try to think what could have happened to Bisping if Anderson's knee landed on his mouth (without any sort of protection).
