"Don't complain" - John McCarthy explains why referee Marc Goddard was right to stop the first Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington fight when he did

Colby Covington (left) and 'Big' John McCarthy (right) [Left photo via @ufceurope on Instagram]

'Big' John McCarthy has defended Marc Goddard's decision to call for a stoppage during the first fight between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington.

Covington claimed his UFC 245 loss to Usman was a premature stoppage. However, McCarthy, a veteran MMA official, believes Goddard did the right thing to save Covington from taking further damage. In a recent episode of the Weighing In podcast, McCarthy said:

"You're looking at him, you realize his jaw was broken and then he gets put down with a shot. And then he just turtles. And you're telling him move, and he wasn't moving. What's that telling you? You got to look and say, 'Hey, I'm giving you the opportunity to show me you want to stay in this. All you got to do is try to move. Doesn't mean you have to get up. Doesn't mean that you got to flop on your back. It means that you have to try to move the position to show me that you wanna stay in this fight. And when that doesn't happen, it gets stopped. Don't complain."

That @DanaWhite angle! 🔥

Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington squared off ahead of #UFC268 and it got heated!! https://t.co/mluol7DHEG

Covington will get another shot at the title as he runs it back with Usman in the main event of UFC 268 on Saturday. 'Chaos' will return to action for the first time since September 2020.

Check out John McCarthy's response to Colby Covington's claims:

Colby Covington 2.0

Colby Covington believes his switch of camps will make the difference during his rematch against Kamaru Usman on Saturday. Covington, who moved from American Top Team to MMA Masters, said:

"You'll see the best Colby Covington because I made a change. Last time I fought him, I was at a gym where they didn't care about me. The coaches, they didn't wanna see my growth as a fighter. They didn't want to help me out to get better. They just wanted me to follow the crowd, train with the team, They didn't wanna individualize my training, which is what I needed. I made a change. I left the old gym that I was at last time I fought him. And now I have new coaches. We've literally been game planning every single day for just this match with Usman."

Watch Colby Covington talk about his adjustments: