David Shaw is an executive with the UFC and he was in attendance for this past weekend’s UFC 215 event, which was oversaw by the Edmonton Combative Sports Commission (ECSC).
Kyle Cardinal is a longtime member of the ECSC as an official and he was the referee during the controversial bout between Rick Glenn and Gavin Tucker.
Shaw says that after the bout, the referee was pulled from any further officiating duties at UFC 215.
“I had the chance to chat with (UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs) Marc Ratner briefly about it (Cardinal being removed from the rest of the event) – I think his position is it might have been a bit late, as well,” Shaw said after the event. “I guess from our perspective, the commission has got a job to do. It sounds like they did their job. I don’t know if we saw that referee again over the course of the evening. Gavin was a warrior, though. Even in that last 10 seconds you saw him sort of pounding his chin and projecting his strength. He definitely took a beating.”
Glenn has stated that he feels that the referee should’ve stopped the fight, while Tucker says he agreed with the referee’s work during their fight.
Despite the controversy, the UFC executive says the promotion plan on returning to Edmonton.
“In terms of whether or not we’re going to come back and have another show in Edmonton, we’d love to, for a variety of reasons,” Shaw said. “But from the perspective of the commission working with Marc closely and with his team, I think it’s our view that they did a good job with us this week.”
The promotion does return to Canada with UFC On Fox 26, which takes place on December 16.
