Veteran MMA referee and Bellator commentator Big John McCarthy discussed the UFC 248 co-main event between Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
The UFC women’s strawweight title fight between Zhang and Jedrzejczyk is now widely regarded as the greatest women’s mma fight in history. The two fighters threw almost 800 strikes during the 5-round battle. Zhang was awarded a close split decision victory, but Jedrzejczyk put on an amazing performance, despite the result. The former champion clearly proved that she is still an elite level fighter.
McCarthy appeared on a recent episode n the “Weighing In” podcast with Josh Thomson. The two talked about the fight, with McCarthy praising both women for their performances. See what he said below:
“What a fight. That was just remarkable by both ladies. God damn, they were good, and they were tough. Weili turned Joanna into a Klingon. I had Mark Hominick with his giant hematoma when he fought Jose Aldo and that was a big one. Joanna just beat it. Good job by the referee and the ringside physicians for letting the fight go on and understanding why the swelling was there,”
Thomson used the opportunity to ask a former MMA official, McCarthy, on his personal scorecard for the fight. McCarthy believes that it all came down to the 5th round — and he thinks that either of the fighters winning would have been acceptable.
“I had it going into the fifth round even. I had it 2-2 going into the fifth round. This is one of those fights that was so competitive either way it went, there are going to be people that thought Joanna won, and there are going to be people that thought Weili won it. Both deserve to win and I have no problem that Weili keeps the title. I have no problem that Joanna got the title. But you gotta look at what Weili did overall and we talk about damage and everything. She was damaged, she received a lot of damage on that leg, her face was swollen badly. But I was so impressed with a person that hasn’t fought into those fourth and fifth championship rounds,” McCarthy said.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 9th March, 2020.
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