Kimbo Slice Trainer Bas Rutten: Fight Should Have Been Stopped in Second Round

Bas Rutten is a legendary figure in mixed martial arts, a former UFC champion, and currently the trainer for Kimbo Slice.

Because of his affiliation with Kimbo, everyone wants to know what Rutten thinks about Kimbo's victory over James Thompson on Saturday night. Rutten answers with a post on his official web site, and although he mostly defends Kimbo, he says something shocking at the end: He actually thinks referee Dan Miragliotta should have stopped the fight and awarded it to Thompson late in the second round. Rutten writes:

People ask me if the fight should have been stopped at the end in the second round, I say YES because those are the rules, it should have been stopped because Kimbo didn't do anything to improve his situation. But I think what made the ref NOT do it was the fact that Kimbo was giving his thumbs up the whole time to let the referee know that he was OK.
This was the refs decission, not Kimbo's.

So Rutten believes Thompson should have been awarded the victory late in the second round. I disagree.
The rule in question states:

Referee Stoppage: the referee may stop a match in progress if: a fighter becomes dominant to the point where the opponent is unable to intelligently defend himself from attacks, which may occur as quickly as a few seconds

There's some room for interpretation in that rule. It doesn't say the referee "must" stop, it says the referee "may" stop. In general, the rules give the referee fairly wide latitude, and Dan Miragliotta, the referee in this particular match, felt that he could let it go. I respect Rutten for giving his true opinion even when it reflects badly on his own fighter, but I don't agree with that opinion.