Dana White Is Unhappy With Cerrone vs. Oliveira Stoppage

If you were watching UFC Fight Night 83, you may have noticed a number of concerning errors. UFC president Dana White did, and he wasn’t too amused…

UFC Fight Night 83 was for the most part a great card, with some riveting finishes and rousing battles in a number of divisions. The tale of the night came in the main event though, as two cowboys in Donald Cerrone and Alex Oliveira faced off. Cerrone was making his welterweight debut after a brutally unsuccessful lightweight title shot last December, and in his Brazilian counterpart he faced a late replacement that could have really rocked the boat with an upset.

As it was, the ‘Cowboy’ of old showed up, dragged Oliveira to the mat and sunk in a triangle choke from the mount. Just half way through round one and the bout was all over, and a jubilant Cerrone celebrated the rekindling of his winning ways. But it wasn’t all roses in the main event, at least not where the referee was concerned. The Brazilian appeared to tap almost right away when the choke hold sunk in and Cerrone rolled with his back to the mat, but it was some time before the referee reacted.

As the referee Mario Yamasaki moved to get a better view, Cerrone was pointing wildly to indicate Oliveira had tapped, at that point the ref intervened. Oliveira never went out, but it was a little concerning to see he’d tapped about ten times before being released. Check out what UFC president Dana White thought of the stoppage:

10 taps before Yamasaki stops it after @Cowboycerrone tells him!!! And he was looking right at it……WOW!!!!! ????????

— Dana White (@danawhite) February 22, 2016

And it wasn’t his only blunder of the evening either, Mario Yamasaki had made a pretty rough job of the end of Cody Garbrandt’s fight too. As Augusto Mendes lay helpless on the mat from some punishment, the referee appeared to stop the fight, but then seemingly changed his mind. Garbrandt continued with his gruesome beatdown on Mendes, who was by this time out cold.

Here’s what ‘No Love’ said about the stoppage, via MMAFighting.com:

“He was definitely knocked out,” Garbrandt said in the post-fight press conference. “His eyes were rolling in the back of his head. He wasn’t even looking at me. So I threw my hands up, it was done. And Mario stepped in, so I was like, ‘OK, he didn’t touch me, so I’m gonna keep hitting him, finish the job.’ … He’s a dead man laying.”

Thoughts?