Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: An Early Stoppage Is A Good Stoppage
Aug 8, 2011 - 9:00:34 AM HYDEN BLOG: An Early Stoppage Is A Good Stoppage

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Dan Henderson beat Fedor Emelianenko last weekend at Strikeforce: "Fedor vs. Henderson" by first round TKO, a stoppage I personally believe was a bit early. However, I also absolutely believe that referee Herb Dean made the right call.

Allow me to clarify what I mean. It's more than likely that Henderson would have landed another three to four punches that would have left no doubt that Fedor was out. However, there's also a chance that Fedor would have recovered and the fight would have continued. Perhaps Henderson would have finished the fight later, or maybe Fedor would come back to finish Henderson somehow. To me, that doesn't matter, because fighter safety has to be the utmost concern.

To me, this is similar to when Shane Carwin could have gotten the stoppage on Brock Lesnar at UFC 116. Referee Josh Rosenthal didn't stop the fight even though Carwin was landing several shots consecutively to Brock's head. The fact that Brock came back to submit Carwin doesn't vindicate the non-stoppage in my mind. Just as Fedor coming back to finish Henderson in their fight wouldn't have justified the non-stoppage there.

If I have to choose between early stoppages or late stoppages, I choose early stoppages every time. I know most fighters would be frustrated by the prospect of early stoppages looming over the sport, but I believe that safety has to come first. We are constantly learning more and more about brain injuries and the effects they have on athletes later in life. Dave Duerson played in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears in the 1980's. He killed himself this year, and his death was linked to concussions suffered during his playing career.

I don't believe in having different standards for different fighters. I don't care if it's Chris Leben or Glass Joe from Mike Tyson's Punchout, fights need to be stopped under the same conditions regardless of who's fighting. If Leben or some other hard-jawed fighter is taking relentless abuse on bottom I don't think it should be allowed to continue because, "Oh, he's tough, he'll come back from this." I also don't believe that title fights should be a justification for late stoppages. We need the same rules for everybody.

One of the things I hate the most about the NBA is "Superstar Calls." A foul is a foul regardless of who commits it or when it happens. Michael Jordan shoved Bryon Russell just before he hit the game-winner in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals; there's absolutely no question about that and anyone who denies that happened is blind to reality. That foul wasn't called because it was Jordan committing it. If it were the other way around, and Russell pushed Jordan, David Stern himself would have run onto the court to call the foul, and I think that's garbage.

It's more serious inside a MMA cage. If Glass Joe's eyes roll back into his head for a second, the fight is stopped. Why should it not be the same for a guy like Chris Leben or Fedor Emelianenko? Why should either be forced to suffer more abuse just because there's a chance they could recover and go on to win the fight?

There's no perfect way to deal with this issue. There's no technology we can use to ensure that we get a perfect stoppage every time. There's always going to be an element of human error. The best we can do is to err on the side of safety.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com