Dana White: Ref Let Randy Couture Take Too Many Punches vs. Brock Lesnar at UFC 91

By Michael David Smith - Lead Blogger

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The main event of UFC 91 ended with Brock Lesnar knocking Randy Couture to the canvas, jumping on top of him, and then striking him repeatedly on the ground before the referee stopped the fight.

UFC President Dana White says the fight should have been stopped sooner. White tells the Los Angeles Times:

"The ref [Mario Yamasaki] was going, 'Eh, is [Couture] OK?' Mario was trying to give him time [to recover]. There's a fine line between that and [allowing] too many punches. When I saw Randy go back down, I thought we had crossed that line."

I agree that the stoppage was a little slow, but I think the damage to Couture was really done with that first big punch that knocked him to the ground and the first couple of strikes after Lesnar got on top of him.

And Couture himself said he thinks there's nothing wrong with the number of punches he took before the fight was stopped.

When a German reporter asked Couture afterward whether such a beating doesn't call into question whether MMA is a legitimate sport, Couture said that was ridiculous:

"We fall under every regulatory commission in this country. This is definitely a sport. I guess I would question because of that scenario why it wouldn't be considered a sport?"

Here's the audio of Couture's answer, via Steve Cofield:

Click below to listen to Couture/Lesnar comments on the brutality of the ending:

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Read More: brocklesnar, dana white, danawhite, randycouture, ufc 91, ufc91, front page, Brock Lesnar (MMA), Randy Couture (MMA)

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