So...onto the lesser controversy

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Rothwell vs. Velsaquez. I thought Mazzagati was right to step in. He clearly told Rothwell if he kept taking shots like he was taking, he was going to step in. He said it in between rounds and he made it perfectly clear.

Now if it just happened randomly and Rothwell was standing up while getting hit I'd understand, but that was after just a barrage of asskicking, and Mazzagati had enough of the one sided beatdown and thought it just wasn't safe/right/or fair anymore. I think he was right to stop it, that's just my pov.

[Vastardikai]

He should have stopped it in the first.

[Innovator]

Mazzagotti did the right thing, told him he'd stop it if he kept getting beaten like he was. Nothing wrong with making sure Rothwell remembers high school

[redoneja]

Yea it was definitely the right call. If Rothwell didn't want it stopped maybe he should have done something other than getting taken down and blocking Velazquez's punches with his face.

[Savio]

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[Funky Fly]

He should have stopped it in the first.

Word.

[CSL]

I dunno, seems to me it was a bit early. Rothwell is still fully aware of what's going on, was in the process of getting back to his feet etc. I can understand why he's annoyed about it. That said, it was probably only a matter of time before he was finished anyways.

[Fabien Barthez]

It was a bad call compared to other times in the fight that he wasn't stopped. Working back to standing from the ground is intelligent defence from someone striking you. I mean, I know they are trying to keep a degree of safety in the sport, but it is still fighting at the end of the day, and if the guy is still fighting, he has a right to carry on. That is the nature of the beast.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I kind of understand why he was annoyed by it, and I acknowledge that he was fully aware of what was going on. But fighter safety is a big issue in this sport, and he got hit in the face about 200 times unanswered, and Mazzagatti pretty much said "If it's the same thing as the first round I'm stopping the fight" and it was exactly the same thing as the first round, so he stopped it.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

It was a bad call compared to other times in the fight that he wasn't stopped. Working back to standing from the ground is intelligent defence from someone striking you. I mean, I know they are trying to keep a degree of safety in the sport, but it is still fighting at the end of the day, and if the guy is still fighting, he has a right to carry on. That is the nature of the beast.

Even though I despise everything you stand for, I do KIND OF agree, that's why this is actually an interesting discussion.

Out of context the stoppage was bad. But with Rothwell being warned that if Velasquez kept landing unprotected bombs the fight would be stopped I feel Mazagatti kept true to his word.

[Funky Fly]

Cain Velasquez hits like a little girl, so yeah Rothwell was still aware of what was happening, but that was still pure domination. Rothwell wasn't moving at all for a large part of both rounds. He was punched several times unanswered right in the face on 3 separate occasions (not a even a hand up to block).

If you look at when the stoppage happened you'll notice:

1. Cain had his back.

2. Cain had him pressed against the cage to limit mobility.

3. Cain had one of his arms trapped behind his leg to limit blocking.

4. Ben ate 6 straight shots to the eye.

I dunno about you, but that's a recipe for a good stoppage in my eyes, considering he was warned already.

[Fabien Barthez]

Congo took a similar barage of undefended shots and he got to finish the fight. Ben Rothwell is a similar size. Who is Mazagatti to determine how powerful Velasquez hits? You just can't stop a fight when the fighter is clearly on his front foot. He has to be at least shying away, or covering up with nowhere to go and taking shots. You have to expose yourself to strikes in order to stand up from a grounded position. You can't have the fight called just because you took them shots.

[Funky Fly]

I would have stopped it at about 3 minutes into the 1st actually. :-\

Rothwell was already just laying there eating shots at that point.

[Reavant]

The stoppage was terrible. If you werent going to stop it in the first then you cant possably stop it like that.

[Savio]

Steve had bad timing

[NoJabbaNoBogRoll]

He'd already started to jump in before Rothwell's leg had come up, so I think the ref was a tad unlucky there.

[Savio]

yeah if he didn't start to jump up before he stopped it than it would have been a fine stoppage