Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [125]
Zuffa had tried for years to bring Silva into the promotion, and when he had finally signed, the former Chute Boxe fighter had annihilated brawler Chris Leben on his feet in forty-nine seconds in his Octagon debut nearly four months earlier.
We all knew the combination of Silva’s speed and accuracy with punches could make him dangerous, but none of us were quite prepared for the way he would handle Franklin.
When Franklin and Silva clinched, I could see right away that Franklin couldn’t get out of the Brazilian’s plumb, a grip in which Silva locked his hands behind Franklin’s neck to keep him close. Now, this was the champion of the world at the time, so you couldn’t say he hadn’t been taught this. In the heat of the moment, Franklin just didn’t respond with an effective countermove. What he’d been taught and what had worked for him in the past weren’t working against the skill level Silva brought to the cage. I think Franklin thought he would be able to muscle his way out of it, but when he tried to weave his hands inside to replumb and establish the dominant position, Silva’s hold was too tight.
Franklin took some huge knee shots to his midsection while he stood helpless in Silva’s grip. Maybe when you’re watching from the outside, a knee to the body doesn’t seem like a big deal. Trust me, it’s a big deal. It knocks the life right out of you.
Every time Franklin wiggled free from Silva’s grip, Silva would just clamp it back on. After a while, I didn’t even look at Silva; I just kept moving to every angle so I wouldn’t lose sight of Franklin’s face.
They always say a fighter has a puncher’s chance, but in instances like these, it’s just a saying. Now it becomes a matter of when a referee can get the fighter out because he’s overwhelmed and can’t protect himself.
That was my job that night. It just happened that it was for the middleweight championship of the world, and nobody had expected a domination like that. I hit the triangle perfectly that night at that point when Franklin went down from a final knee that crushed his nose into his face. Three minutes into the bout, I called it off. If I’d let it go longer, who knows what else Franklin would have left with besides a broken nose.
The right moment isn’t always so clear, and sometimes I’ve let bouts go longer than I should have. It’s never on purpose; I always worry about a fighter taking too much damage. But it’s never an exact science because no two fights are alike.
A bout I think I let go too long was at UFC 63 “Hughes vs. Penn” on September 23, 2006, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Rashad Evans took on Jason Lambert, and I read that fight all wrong. I gave Lambert too much credit and Evans not enough.
Evans, the winner of season two of The Ultimate Fighter, mounted Lambert and began throwing down strikes. Lambert was trying to fire back, but he was absorbing too many shots. He got hurt and went out cold before I registered that it was time to step in. I shouldn’t have let it go that far.
As soon as I walked out of that cage, I was thinking about that fight. I constantly dissect fights like this to figure out where I screwed up, where I should have stopped them, and why I didn’t. I never stop thinking about them.
Every time I run into Lambert, I think of this fight. Even though I’ve refereed Lambert in fights where he’s had great victories, none of those come to mind. Rashad Evans does.
I don’t like to see any athlete get hurt or embarrassed in front of his family, friends, and fans because I stopped a bout too early or too late.
When I step into the cage in search of that perfect fight, I always tell