Referee Marc Goddard discusses Crute vs. Alvey stoppage after backlash

Not everybody agreed with the stoppage in last weekend’s Jim Crute vs. Sam Alvey fight. UFC President Dana White, for example, was adamant that referee Marc Goddard stopped the action too early, and that Alvey should have been given a bit more time to recover.

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Marc Goddard gave his take on the stoppage in this fight. In hindsight, he admits that he perhaps could have handled the situation differently, but he also reminds his detractors that he’s forced to act decisively in mere milliseconds, oftentimes when a fighter’s safety is on the line.

“Yes, I know that Sam obviously jumped straight back up, obviously demonstrating to me and telling me he’s OK,” Goddard said. “But at that point the fight is called. And you know what? Going back and looking at it again, if I could run it back again, yeah I would have taken a half step back. I would have let another two shots or three shots play out. And I’m gonna put it down to a mistake. I’m big and ugly enough to do that.

Marc Goddard also added that Alvey’s state in the moments before the stoppage — Crute had him on spaghetti legs on the feet — played a role in his decision to halt the action.

“It wasn’t one, two or three shots I’m jumping in and stopping,” Goddard explained. “It was 16. Sixteen shots. And at that point, I’m taking into assessment, I think he’s hurt and not recovered from the original knockdown. I think he’s hurt, I see his head on the mat, I see the shots coming in and I make my call.

“At the same time, as I’m doing that, people are saying, ‘Didn’t you see Sam’s thumb up?’ No, I didn’t. Wholly and honestly, I didn’t see his thumb up, because his arm is outstretched and my focus, my vision is on where these shots are trying to land.

“I approach my job and all the fights the same,” Goddard added. “And I’m sorry to Sam, I really am. I feel bad. But all I want people to try and do is understand where my mental aspect came from. Had I stopped the fight from the ground and pound alone, people would be rightly jumping all over me. But I’m not. It was the fact of what happened before that.”

What did you think of this response from Marc Goddard? How did you feel about the stoppage?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/12/2019.