The UFC headliner between Randy Brown and Gabriel Bonfim ended in controversy.
The welterweight fighters got their first main event spotlight on Saturday night inside the UFC Apex.
After a competitive first round, Gabriel Bonfim landed a beautiful knee while in the clinch to send Brown down to the canvas.
For a moment, it looked like Randy Brown was knocked out by the strike. However, as soon as he hit the ground, Brown was awake and he held up his hands to block follow-up strikes.
Referee Mark Smith stopped the fight before Bonfim could land any more punches, which led to some controversy.
Amid complaints of an ‘early stoppage’, a UFC analyst explains why the referee called the fight off when he did.
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Alan Jouban says referee didn’t want Randy Brown to go out like Marco Tulio at UFC Vegas 111
Before referee Mark Smith officiated the main event between Bonfim and Brown, he was the third man in the Octagon for Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Marco Tulio.
Leroy Duncan scored a double-tap knockout of Tulio in the second round. Leroy Duncan sent his opponent face-first into the canvas with a right hand and followed it up with one more devastating shot on the ground for good measure.
Speaking on the UFC Vegas 111 post-show, UFC analyst and former fighter Alan Jouban says the aftermath of the Tulio knockout led to referee Mark Smith stopping Bonfim vs. Brown prematurely.
“That final right hand put Tulio out,” Jouban said.
“This is what we’re talking about…
“This is why they stopped the fight early for Randy Brown,” Jouban continued.
“You don’t want to see another guy not be able to wake up for a couple of minutes,” Jouban explained the main event stoppage.
Dominick Cruz weighs in on UFC Vegas 111 main event stoppage
Dominick Cruz was on the call for Saturday night’s main event.
The former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion has complained about premature stoppages in the past, one of them being his TKO loss to Henry Cejudo in 2020.
Cruz says the Bonfim vs. Brown stoppage came a ‘little early’.
“He wakes up when he hits the mat. He’s awake,” Cruz said of Brown on the UFC broadcast.
“The ref doesn’t want him to eat that last one in case he’s completely out. You don’t know if he’s awake or not or if he’s going to eat an unnecessary shot.
“We saw [Marco] Tulio eat a big shot earlier tonight. That’s a hard one. I think Brown was OK but as the ref, I can understand too.
“If you’re Mark Smith, it’s tough, but if you’re a fighter I’m pissed.
“I do think it’s a little early but at the same time if Bonfim gets up and he’s actually out and he actually comes and puts a stamp on this, how bad does Mark Smith look and what does the whole internet say about Mark Smith.
“But now because he wasn’t actually completely out, now it goes the other way. That is a tough spot as a ref because of the way you saw Randy Brown fall, it looked worse almost than it actually was because he woke up when his head hit the floor again,” Cruz added.