Marc Goddard Reveals Why He Will Never Officiate a Leon Edwards Fight

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Oh I'd love to talk to him.

I’ll referee the conversation.

Totally objectively of course.

Wouldn’t be biased towards @StonedLemur AT ALL

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Referee Marc Goddard doesn’t want the slightest personal involvement with fighters whose bouts he officiates.

Marc Goddard Reveals Why He Will Never Officiate a Leon Edwards Fight

Referee Marc Goddard doesn’t want the slightest personal involvement with fighters whose bouts he officiates.

www.sherdog.com

While refereeing is one of the toughest parts of all sports, combat sports referees arguably have a heavier burden on their shoulders due to the lethal nature of the sport. Hence, to avoid any conflict of interest, referees at the highest level are not allowed to coach fighters.

This has also stopped Goddard from refereeing the fights of UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards. The Scottish referee hasn’t been seriously involved in coaching for a while now other than a weekly class at his friend’s gym. However, Goddard revealed that he was Edwards’ first MMA coach back when “Rocky” was just an amateur. To avoid risking allegations of favoritism as well the predicament of having to take a call against his former pupil, Goddard deliberately avoids all of Edwards’ fights and will continue to do so.

“You never saw me ref Leon Edwards in the UFC and you never will,” Goddard said on the OverDogs podcast with Mike Perry. “Why? Because I was Leon Edwards’ first coach, MMA. Way, way, way back when he was just an amateur… Who knew then when Leon first walked into that gym as a raw amateur, a raw novice with no experience. Now look at him, UFC welterweight champion of the world. But you never saw me referee him and you never will. Because we’ll just keep it out of the way. I just don’t want any hassle. And I don’t want to be put in a predicament where I’m making a call that could go against him. So, it’s both ways.”

Another instance when Goddard deliberately avoided officiating a fight was Israel Adesanya’s title rematch against Alex Pereira. Goddard was the third man inside the Octagon when “The Last Stylebender” lost his middleweight title to Pereira in their first outing at UFC 281 in November 2022. However, Goddard asked not to be assigned their rematch at UFC 287 the next year, as he didn’t want Adesanya to have negative flashbacks from the first loss.

Spoiler

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Pretty cool about the Adesanya fight tho

(Insert BJ nodding thoughtfully emoji here)

 

[StonedLemur]

I’ll referee the conversation.

Totally objectively of course.

Wouldn’t be biased towards @StonedLemur AT ALL

Marc is just mad he couldn't cut it as a fighter sir lol.
Of course you'd be biased because I'd be right the whole time lol.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

He's not invited...not even for a BBQ sir.
But I would like to ask him why he interjects himself into fights when he's mostly not needed.

He talks to fighters like they're fuckin children somes too, which is infuriating.

How about Herb " Keep fighting until he's dead " Dean ?

Pretty cool about the Adesanya fight tho

(Insert BJ nodding thoughtfully emoji here)

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Marc is just mad he couldn't cut it as a fighter sir lol.
Of course you'd be biased because I'd be right the whole time lol.

NGL - I think it’d actually make great viewing. Sherdog can host it.

 

[StonedLemur]

Actually BJM said he interjects himself too much lol

Because he learned from the OG of interjecting himself needlessly and talking to the fighters like children in BJM.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

I'm still mad at him for Doumbe Baki

It was the good old "Glass in the Foot" gimmick. Made famous by Ric Flair to get the opponent DQ. Goddard just didn't get the updated script.

 

[chinarice]

Actually BJM said he interjects himself too much lol

BJM did this several times while still reffing in the UFC. I remember back then thinking how annoying it was.

 

[usernamee]

Actually BJM said he interjects himself too much lol

BJM scared Goddard is taking everything he worked for

 

[Neck&Neck]

Octagon Jitters for real

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Octagon Jitters for real

 

[jeff7b9]

He's not invited...not even for a BBQ sir.
But I would like to ask him why he interjects himself into fights when he's mostly not needed.

He talks to fighters like they're fuckin children somes too, which is infuriating.

This is my biggest pet peeve with refs.

Main character syndrome.

Goddard has it BAD. The ref should be invisible.
If they do their job right you shouldn't even remember who the ref was --> most of the time <--

This is why I appreciated Josh Rosenthal.
He was not perfect, no ref is without any mistakes, but he didn't go in there and make it about him, he wasn't focused on trying to be recognized for a corny hand signal or catchphrase (that I recall) he just observed and didn't get involved unless he had to protect a fighter or enforce the rules when fouls occurred.

 

[Clark Rogers]

Respectable imo, although passing on the rematch so Izzy didn't have bad memories is a little extreme, silly even. Fully get the Leon angle though.

 

[BangBang]

Negative flashbacks from him being in the Octagon- fucking hell get OVER yourself! LOL

 

[ipowerslapmywife]

Is he the ref that was accidently knocked out a year or 2 ago

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

What's next "Nah fam can't ref Raquel Pennington scraps no more since mans sus" like cool bro but nobody asked good fi u tho Mark honorable ting fi certain

 

[PaddyO'malley]

Appreciate it fam same to u

 

[HCS]

Goddard is Scottish? the fuck?

Yeah, seriously. He seems very English to me.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Appreciate it fam same to u

Mad love fam

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Goddard is Scottish? the fuck?