Why Marc Goddard won’t ever referee UFC champ Leon Edwards’ fights

Don’t count on Marc Goddard to referee UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards’ upcoming struggle – or any of his fights for that matter.

Edwards (21-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his title in a rematch vs. Belal Muhammad (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC) within the UFC 304 headliner July 27 at Co-op Dwell in Manchester, England.

The famend referee has officiated among the largest fights in UFC historical past and has had the likes of Colby Covington disagree with him on sure stoppages. However that’s not why Goddard gained’t referee Edwards’ fights. The Brit has a fairly legitimate purpose.

“Right here’s a basic case: Leon Edwards. You’ve by no means seen me referee Leon Edwards within the UFC, and also you by no means will. Why? As a result of I used to be Leon Edwards’ first MMA coach,” Goddard stated on the Overdogs Podcast. Manner, approach, approach again when he was simply an beginner. However once more, the commonsense factor for me, although the hyperlink is so – who knew then when Leon first walked into that fitness center as a uncooked beginner, a uncooked novice with no expertise? Now have a look at him.

“UFC welterweight champion of the world, however you’ve by no means noticed me referee him, and also you by no means will as a result of we simply maintain it out of the best way. I simply don’t need any trouble, and I don’t need to be put in a predicament the place I’m making a name that would go towards him, so it’s each methods.”

There are different fights Goddard has most well-liked to not referee however for private causes. He gave an instance of Israel Adesanya and when he refereed his title struggle towards Alex Pereira at UFC 281. Pereira scored a standing TKO of Adesanya, who instantly protested the stoppage. Adesanya insisted it was early, however Goddard stood by his name.

“Do you bear in mind when Israel Adesanya fought Pereira for the second time in Miami? I particularly requested not to try this struggle,” Goddard continued. “The rationale I requested to not do the struggle was as a result of I used to be fascinated by Izzy, I used to be fascinated by him. Me and him are fantastic. I’ve refereed him since, I’ve refereed his struggle with Sean Strickland, however I really eliminated myself as a result of what I didn’t need to do was for Izzy to have me stroll into the dressing room.

“I used to be considering of the fighter then. ‘That is his evening, it’s all about him.’ I didn’t need to stroll into that dressing room and him to have any type of adverse connotation or one thing like that. So, I simply thought that the correct factor to do and the fairest factor to do by him is simply keep out of the struggle and provides it to a different ref, and I requested from the fee to not do it. There’s been a few incidents the place there’s sure fighters that I might fairly not (referee) for private causes.”