Alex Pereira took a low blow from Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC 300 last weekend in Las Vegas, prompting referee Herb Dean to step in and call a halt to the action. Pereira, however, was unfazed by the groin shot and told Dean to back off and let him work. Moments later, Hill was stopped by way of technical knockout.

Former UFC heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, was serving as color commentator alongside Joe Rogan and play-by-play man Jon Anik during the UFC 300 PPV event. “DC” and his cousins — who are apparently experts in this sort of thing — are now questioning the fight-ending sequence and the role Dean played in the finish.

“I saw some things a little differently after watching it with [Hill],” Cormier said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Ben Askren (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “He spoke about foot placement as a southpaw fighting a conventional fighter, the range, and everything else. I run it by my cousins and my nephews, and my nephew had the same idea. They thought that Herb Dean made a mistake. While we are all lost in the idea of Herb goes to step in, Alex puts his hand out, Herb steps back. When you have an illegal strike, they are saying that they should have been separated and then they come back together as a fresh restart.”

“It didn’t happen,” Cormier continued. “Very short time later, Alex landed the shot that put Jamahal down and knocked him out, seconds after what should have been a restart. I’m not taking a side in this deal. I’m just asking what you make of that. Generally, when an illegal strike happens, they separate the athletes, they come back together, and then the fight restarts. In that moment, it felt like Alex had said, ‘I’ve got my timing, I’ve got my foot placement.’ He went and landed, but they feel like they were much closer than they should have been.”

Longtime referee “Big” John McCarthy quickly rushed to Dean’s defense.

“It is inherently bad for the sport and unbelievably embarrassing to hear people who supposedly know the sport of MMA smear the actions of Herb Dean as if he was responsible for the knockout of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. “Let’s make this as clear as possible for everyone: Herb was perfect in the actions he took in allowing Alex Pereira to call off the timeout for the kick to the groin he took and then keep the action of the fight in motion.”

“The fighter who is fouled by a strike to the groin is in control of how much time they need to take to sufficiently recover from the foul.” McCarthy continued. “They have up to five minutes of time if they need it. Many times fighters do not want a stop in the action because they feel they have gained momentum in the fight and do not want to give any time to their opponent. Everything Herb Dean did was exactly what we would train any official to do under the same circumstances. Luckily we had an official in the cage who understands the rules and the mechanics needed to successfully manage a world title fight instead of the talking heads that guess at what is right or wrong.”

McCarthy also trains judges and referees at his COMMAND academy, recognized by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC). I’m not sure what certifications are held by Cormier’s cousins and nephews, but I think most of us will probably defer to the experts on this sort of thing.

For more on Pereira’s finish over Hill click here.