"You don't stop that in Texas" - Francis Ngannou, Daniel Cormier, and other UFC fighters and fans call out referee Dan Miragliotta for "bad stoppage" of Derrick Lewis vs. Sergei Pavlovich fight

(L to R) Derrick Lewis [via ufc.com], Lewis vs. Sergei Pavlovich [via @ESPN on Twitter], Dan Miragliotta, Pavlovich [via ufc.com]

UFC fighters and fans are unhappy with the stoppage of the UFC 277 clash between Derrick Lewis and Sergei Pavlovich. MMA fans on Twitter called out referee Dan Miragliotta for a "bad stoppage" in the immediate aftermath of the bout.

Pavlovich started teeing off on Lewis after connecting flush with a left hook less than a minute into the fight. Miragliotta intervened as a visibly hurt Lewis stumbled to the floor and covered up. 'The Black Beast' was seemingly trying to get back on his feet and immediately protested the stoppage.

Watch the sequence below:

Herb Dean would never stop this early , Derrick Lewis was robbed . #UFC277 https://t.co/zTc1Bn5WoJ

Several UFC fighters like Francis Ngannou, Belal Muhammad, and Daniel Cormier seem to find Lewis' protest justified. According to Muhammad, a bout is not stopped like that in the state of Texas, where the UFC 277 card went down. 'Remember the Name' wrote:

"You don’t stop that in Texas"

You don’t stop that in Texas

Ngannou and 'DC' also deemed it to be an early stoppage.

That's definitely an early stoppage

This was a bad stoppage!!!!

Former UFC light heavyweight Jimi Manuwa sympathized with Lewis for the unfair stoppage in front of his home crowd.

Hmmmm not sure about that stoppage #UFC277

Feel bad for Derrick on that one. Right in front of his home crowd man 😞 #UFC277

UFC light heavyweight prospect Jamahal Hill, who fights Thiago Santos next weekend, urged the UFC to get such faulty officiating out of their system.

Yeah get all this bs reffing out of y’all system before next week!!!#UFC277

I’m sad?! The Beast coulda definitely gotten right up and landed a fight changing bomb. Early stoppage 😭 big dannnn miroglosbaba

That was weak as hell. Let em fight ref!!

Need to run this back asap

Several UFC fans also questioned the stoppage as Lewis has a history of comebacks.

@bullyb170 You don't stop that anywhere. Lewis has gone to his knees so many times in his fights, gotten back up and fought his ass off for ten more minutes.

And more importantly that's just not a TKO. It's a knockdown. So fkn weird

@Callmestrizz @dc_mma Wasn't coming back 🤣 did you see him instantly stand up, not rocked or hurt? 🤣🤣

@dc_mma "bad" is being nice. When are we going to get some accountability for these refs and judges, DC!? The sport deserves better than what the UFC is giving us. Refs, Judges, Gloves. Why can't we fix this in 2022!?

@bullyb170 I could give two fucks if he was hurt, you don’t stop that shit in Texas. I’ve seen fights be stopped for way way way way more then that man

Derrick Lewis has lost his last three bouts in Texas

Derrick Lewis was riding a five-fight win streak at one point, putting him on a collision course with Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at UFC 265. Lewis was picked apart by the Frenchman en route to a third-round TKO loss in front of his home crowd at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

'The Black Beast' bounced back with a first-round knockout win over Chris Daukaus, and the UFC sent him back to Texas for a banger against Tai Tuivasa. Tuivasa faceplanted Lewis with a vicious elbow in round two, making it his second consecutive loss at the Toyota Center.

Tai Tuivasa are you kidding me?! Perfect elbow and put Derrick Lewis to sleep for the KO. https://t.co/b3OUk1DHii

Tonight's controversial stoppage loss against Sergei Pavlovich was Lewis' third consecutive loss in the state of Texas. The last victory in Texas for 'The Black Beast' came via a unanimous decision against Ilir Latifi back at UFC 247 in February 2020.