While no one is doubting how great the Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes main event was at UFC 179 on Saturday, the champion has come under fire for a pair of illegal blows that were fired after the bell at the end of round on.
“After that first round, a couple people came over and started saying, ‘He hit him with two punches after the bell. That was late,'” Dana White told MMAjunkie. “I didn’t hear anything. It was so loud in that arena, I didn’t hear it. It didn’t look like the referee heard it.”
The champion also agreed and said that he had no bad intent with the extra punches and that they were only thrown because he didn’t know the round had ended.
“It was like deja vu,” Aldo said at the post-fight presser. “When it was about to end right there, I thought I had already won the fight. So I landed two punches, and the ref got in front of me, and I thought I had won, but the round was over. I heard the crowd. Everyone was screaming, and I thought I was going to be able to run into the crowd again, but they put me back in, and we had to restart the fight.”
Dana White assured detractors that it was impossible to hear the bell given the boisterous crowd.
“I guess on TV, it looked really dirty, like real deliberate punches after the bell,” White said. “I was in that arena, and I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t hear the bell. I didn’t hear anything. Maybe some people did, maybe some people didn’t, but I didn’t. I don’t think it was deliberate, not to mention that normally the referee is right there when the bell rings to break it up in case that would happen. I don’t think he heard it either. So that’s my two cents.”
