Marc Goddard was the center of attention at times during the UFC 319 main event thanks to the commentary of Joe Rogan.
Goddard officiated the middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev. While du Plessis entered as the champion, Chimaev took the gold in a landslide decision victory. It was the relentless takedowns and nearly 22 minutes of control that won “Borz” the 185-pound title.
There were moments during the fight where Goddard would have Chimaev stand up. During one of those stand ups, Chimaev briefly protested. Longtime color commentator Rogan admitted that he wasn’t a fan of the Goddard standing Chimaev up.
Goddard has been defended by the likes of combat sports regulatory lawyer, Erik Magraken. In a video posted on X, Magraken pointed out that Goddard was well within his right to stand Chimaev up, per the current unified rules.
You can add popular referee Herb Dean to the growing list of prominent names who are defending Goddard. Speaking to Helen Yee, Dean explained why Goddard was justified in his decision making (via MMAJunkie).
“I don’t think there was anything wrong with his stand ups,” Dean told Helen Yee. “Khamzat dominated the five rounds, and this is an ongoing conversation that everyone in the stakeholders and everyone in the sport has, but what do we want this sport to look like? Do we want people to achieve a dominant position, which if you’re not using it to beat your opponent, could almost be looked at as a hiding place, as a place to burn time?
“I’m never going to accuse Khamzat of hiding because the man’s a savage. But if you get a position like, we can break that one down, the crucifix, chest to chest position, not a lot of height. Very difficult to get to a place where you can punch your opponent. Sometimes he’s able to get elbows and you want to reward people. We can talk about 10-8s – you want to reward someone with a 10-8 for trying to finish their opponent, for taking a risk. It takes a risk to make some space, to posture to where you’re going to be able to maybe finish the fight, and I think that’s what we want our sport to look like. So I’m OK with those stand-ups that Marc Goddard did.”
Some have theorized that Chimaev’s game plan was designed to preserve energy, so he would’ve gas out in the later rounds. “DDP” has been known for his relentless pace even going into the championship rounds, and Chimaev never allowed him to get anything going. Regardless of how one feels about Goddard’s stand ups, it didn’t change the outcome.