‘Playing with my life’ – Crosbie calls out referee

After his UFC fight in China ended with an illegal knee by his opponent, Ireland’s Kiefer Crosbie has criticized referee Marc Goddard.

In the first round, Chinese prospect Taiyilake Nueraji struck Crosbie with a knee while he was seated, but he lost two points.

After a brief period of recovery, Goddard asked Crosbie if he was okay to continue fighting.

Crosbie, 35, called it a “ridiculous call” and questioned why he wasn’t given five minutes to recover.

“Marc Goddard, I didn’t get five minutes, why?” He wrote on Instagram, “Forty five seconds ago, I couldn’t even see straight or recall what happened.”

“Playing with my life is ridiculous because I was going to continue because that’s what fighters do,” I said. “It’s obvious I was going to continue because that’s what fighters do.”

Instead of removing points for an illegal blow, which has only happened three times before in the UFC, Goddard could have chosen to disqualify Nueraji.

A doctor has up to five minutes to decide whether a fighter can continue fighting in violation of UFC rules, and a referee can do so “as soon as is practicable.”

In that situation, fighters are given up to five minutes to recover, as they are under the low-fliction rule, with the match resuming when the referee accepts the fighter to go back to normal.

Crosbie had a brief recovery period of less than a minute before regaining his momentum.

The doctor in the octagon gave the Irishman an evaluation, and he assured Goddard that he was fine to continue.

The Irishman nodded his head in reply when Goddard asked if he wanted to keep the fight.

Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and other members of the commentary team initially believed Nueraji would be disqualified and the fight would be stopped, but Goddard praised his decision to keep going.

Former fighter Laura Sanko praised Marc Goddard on commentary, saying “Perfectly handled by him because Kiefer Crosbie had the right to say “no, I can’t continue” and that he would have won the DQ if he had done that.

Bisping continued, “Very expertly handed.”

With three defeats in a row, Crosbie’s UFC career is in jeopardy due to the loss.

Crosbie’s last MMA victory outside of the UFC occurred in 2023, when he was an underdog in the first round.

Crosbie claimed in his Instagram post comments that he thought Goddard was a top-notch referee.

“I asked backstage after the fight how come a doctor didn’t come in and check me, and they told me he did.” He claimed that he recalls none of it.

“And don’t get me wrong, I’ve said this before and it’s obvious that Marc is one of the best, if not the best, referees in the game.”