John McCarthy thinks Manuel Torres vs. Drew Dober at UFC on ESPN 64 was stopped too late.
Torres (16-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) dropped Dober (27-15 MMA, 13-11 UFC) with a straight right, followed by a series of unanswered hammerfists to score the Round 1 TKO in Saturday's co-main event at Arena CDMX in Mexico City.
Many, including Torres, took issue with how long it took referee Mike Beltran to wave the fight off after Dober wasn't intelligently defending himself. Veteran referee McCarthy acknowledges that it's tough to gauge sometimes, but thinks Beltran let Dober take too much unnecessary damage.
"The stoppage was a little slow when you look at it," McCarthy said on his "Weighing In" podcast. "It was good, but it was a little slow because of the uniqueness of what you watched off of the way he went down and then the way he just stayed in one spot eating 15 shots that were hard and again, people think, 'Oh a hammer fist.'
"Hammer fists have power. I just don’t know how to tell you man, don't let someone get a free shot on the side of your noggin with a good hammer fist because we've done studies on all that stuff, and you'll get people able to throw a hammer fist every bit as hard as someone throwing a straight shot."
McCarthy says Beltran should have trusted his initial instinct.
"He actually stepped in, and then was like, 'Oh, got to give him more of a shot,'" McCarthy said. "It's like: No, you should have stopped it there. You had the right read. But I understand why he didn't."
Dober, who now has lost three straight fights, took to X to react to his loss.
Well, that sucked. A beautifully timed one two by Manuel Torres. There's not much to go off of other than, unfortunately, stepping in front of the rear hand of a long power puncher.
— Drew Dober (@DrewDober) March 30, 2025
As much as I love Mexico City, it's given me two of my most embarrassing losses of my career, haha. But the food and people are still the best. I'm happy and healthy and excited to be a stay at home dad for a while.
— Drew Dober (@DrewDober) March 30, 2025
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