Loved the scoring in the Condit fight. And this is coming from a big wrestling fan. You shouldn't get awarded for a takedown if you get markedly outstruck after you land it. 30-27 was correct. Damage > control.
I'm by no means saying this makes me right, but this is why I want Max-Volkanovski III. We're gonna see Ortega fight for the belt, and we very possibly could've seen Kattar if he didn't run into Max. These guys simply aren't on Max's level. That was an absolute clinic.
I thought Herb did a great job of not stopping the fight. These guys talk prefight and if the fighter asks the ref not to stop it, which I'm sure happened here, I have no problem with the ref respecting that. Every time it was close Kattar would throw a nasty left elbow, that, let's face it, could've been a game-changer if it landed.
Between Max yelling at the announcing crew about his boxing mid-fight and then saying post-fight that he's sticking around to step in to fight Conor/Poirier should something happen there... Good stuff.
Damage > control to a degree, but how much damage are ground strikes from your back really doing? These weren't Holland-Jacare strikes. It was just pitter-patter. Conor landed more than Khabib in the first round. Khabib still won that round in everybody's mind (expect Conor's). I'm OK with Condit winning, but I think it was 29-28.
I think if Herb stopped the fight in the 4th where it looked like Katter was barely able to stand, I don't think anybody would have batted an eye, but I agree that it was not on Herb as much as the corner. The rules are you need to be intelligently defending yourself. Kattar was covering up and throwing back, so I can see Herb's side. It's not his job to know what Kattar is capable of or what Max is capable of absorbing. Again, if he stopped it, I wouldn't have had a problem with it
in this instance. But there might be an instance where the ref oversteps his authority and stops a fight when he shouldn't.
It's kind of like the Masvidal-Nate fight. Nate was getting busted up. Do I think he was going to be able to stop Masvidal in the 4th or 5th? Probably not, but it was not the doctor's decision to make. The doctor is there to determine if it is safe for Nate to fight, not whether he thinks Nate has a realistic chance to win the fight.
The ref should stop a fight if a fighter isn't intelligently defending themselves (or taps).
The doctor should stop a fight it it isn't safe for a fighter to continue to fight.
The corner should stop a fight if there is no realistic possibility of their fighter winning the fight.
That should be the division of responsibility IMO.