UFC referee Marc Goddard says that his personal relationship with Leon Edwards is why he’ll never officiated one of his fights.
Goddard is one of MMA’s best refereees. If you’re not familiar with his name, you’ll recognise his face as he works at the vast majority of UFC events.
However, the Englishman has never and will never oversee an Edwards fight.
Speaking on the Overdogs Podcast, Goddard revealed that he has a little-known connection to the reigning UFC welterweight champion.
“People don’t know this. Here’s a classic case, Leon Edwards. You’ve never seen me referee Leon Edwards in the UFC, and you never will,” he said.
“I was Leon Edwards’ first coach in MMA. Way, way, way back when, when he was just an amateur.
“Again, the common-sense element for me, with the link, you’ve never seen me referee him and you never will.
“We’ll just keep it out of the way. I just don’t want any hassle. And I don’t want to be put in a predicament where I’m making a call that could go against him. So, it’s both ways.”
Edwards is set to defend his belt against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 on July 27.
Goddard will almost certainly be there refereeing other fights on the card, but he won’t be involved with the main event due to his relationship with ‘Rocky’.
The former MMA fighter, who amassed a 7-6-1 record before becoming a referee, went on to reveal that he has asked not to officiate other fights for different reasons.
Goddard was the man in the middle when Israel Adesanya suffered a shock TKO loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 281 in November 2022.
‘The Last Stylebender’ was stopped on his feet after failing to answer a barrage of strikes in the final round of a fight that he was winning on the scorecards.
Some said the stoppage was too early. Adesanya insisted it was unnecessary. So, Goddard took himself out of the equation ahead of their rematch at UFC 287 in April 2023.
He added: “When Israel Adesanya fought Alex Pereira for the second time in Miami, I specifically requested not to do that fight.
“I did the first fight. The reason I requested not to do the fight was because I was thinking about Izzy. I have reffed him since, I have reffed his fight with Sean Strickland.
“I was thinking of a fighter then. This was his night, it was about him. I didn’t want to walk into the dressing room and him to have any sort of negative connotation or something like that.”
News Summary:
- ‘People don’t know this’ – UFC referee Marc Goddard explains why he’ll never officiate a Leon Edwards fight
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