Many people believed that referee Leon Roberts stopped the bout too late, with one of those being UFC President Dana White.
“Horrible, horrible stoppage by the referee,” White said at the post-fight press conference (via Danny Segura & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “It should’ve been stopped way sooner, you know. It looks like we have to tighten up our refs and judges here in ‘Fight Island.'”
Yan landed a plethora of unanswered strikes in the fifth round of the encounter, while Aldo landed just a single strike.
White, despite Aldo losing the bout, has a lot of praise for how the former featherweight champion performed at UFC 251.
“I thought Aldo looked great for people that were criticizing him saying he doesn’t deserve another title shot,” White said. “He fought the next guy lined up for a title shot and he looked damn good doing it, he can do whatever he wants.”
There is no word yet as to whether or not the UFC will make any referee changes for future Fight Island events after how things played out at UFC 251.
