Last night Dan Henderson scored a stunning TKO stoppage of Fedor Emelianenko. After rocking Fedor with a right hand, the Team Quest wrestler proceeded to wallop him twice, hard, right in the back of the head.
Referee Herb Dean did nothing. Strikeforce announcers didn’t mention it. None of the reporters thought to bring it up in the postfight press conference. Can you imagine an NFL Playoff game decided by blatant pass interference – and the media pretending it never happened? It’s unthinkable.
At some point we need an MMA media that understands questioning decisions and officials isn’t a betrayal of the sport. The sport needs a competent officiating crew. We need to discuss important issues like when it’s appropriate to penalize a shot that may be on the edge of legal.
After the break, a look at the finishing sequence. Do you think it was illegal shots that finished Fedor?
You can clearly see Henderson land punches to the back of the head. But, arguably, they came after Emelianenko was already out of it. Does that change the equation? We saw a similar incident when Vitor Belfort knocked out Rich Franklin. Will an official ever penalize a blow like that? Should they?
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