Jon Anik: Jared Cannonier would have been knocked out if Jason Herzog hadn’t intervened at UFC on ESPN 57

Jon Anik thinks referee Jason Herzog saved Jared Cannonier from suffering unnecessary extra damage in UFC on ESPN 57.

Nassourdine Imavov (14-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) scored a fourth-round TKO over Cannonier (17-7 MMA, 10-7 UFC) in Saturday’s main event at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky – a controversial walkout that infuriated Cannonier.

Imavov had Cannonier on skates when he caught him with a right hook. Imavov ran after Cannonier, who finally tried to swing back while leaning against the cage. However, with Cannonier off balance and stumbling in the Octagon, Herzog saw enough and waved off the fight at 1:34 of the fourth round.

While Anik agrees the stoppage was premature, he thinks Cannonier was on his way to being eliminated.

“If you asked me, ‘Do you believe that in 20 seconds Jared Cannonier would have been knocked out or suffered a further concussion?’, the answer would be yes,” Anik said on Twitter. Podcast by Anik and Florian. “I believe referees are universally praised when they allow a fight to go on and then something sensational happens. Either we have a 25-minute war because they didn’t stop the fight, or we have a knockout that has some virality.

“I was a little surprised to see Jason Herzog intervene here, but referees will always be criticized when they stop fights early on due to potentially concussive damage. …Jason, if any referee deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s him. If you’re asking me, I think the stoppage was premature, I guess, but I think the result would have been a concussion for Jared Cannonier, who was driving drunk 30 seconds before, and I just feel like he was going to do that. I was knocked out.

Herzog acknowledged the criticismand indicated that he planned to re-evaluate the fight ending sequence.

“I understand. I know what I was seeing at the time, but I’ve gotten enough feedback telling me I need to reevaluate, so I’ll do that,” Herzog wrote on Twitter. X after the fight.

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This story originally appeared on MMA Junkie