John McCarthy made some strong comments about Aljamain Sterling after his successful title defense at UFC 273. The fight was a very tricky one to score and the former referee disagreed with the judges.
“I was very impressed with Aljamain and the way he fought, but there’s no way he won that first round,” McCarthy said on the “Weighing In” podcast. “The heavier shots were landed easily by Yan, and I thought it was a smart tactic by Aljamain to stay on the outside, to move continuously, but he didn’t land much. He landed a couple of kicks, not real hard, and he got hit with some heavy shots for a little bit and right near the end, Yan really started landing some good shots.”
Recently, MMA Junkie Radio spoke to John McCarthy and the former referee admitted he made a mistake judging the fight from UFC 273. His relationship with Aljamain Sterling is now a little bit complicated but he understands the feelings.
“Here’s the first thing, and Aljamain Sterling can hate me, again, I honestly don’t care, but I will tell you, I don’t hate him,” McCarthy said about the UFC bantamweight champion. “I think he’s a phenomenal fighter. I think he’s just a dynamite fighter and he deserves to be where he’s at. But when you take a look at judging of a fight, I did exactly what you should never do, and that’s have friends over, be jaw-jackin’ with them while the fight’s going on, and then think that you saw that fight as you should have. I didn’t.”
“I went back and watched it and said I can definitely see why someone would say Aljamain won that,” McCarthy continued. “If you’re going for volume, you’re gonna go more for Aljamain. If you’re going more for power, you’re gonna go more for Yan, but it’s razor-close. And you know, I was wrong.”
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