Chael Sonnen goes nuts over early stoppage in Cris Cyborg vs. Leslie Smith fight at UFC 198

Cris Cyborg made an impressive Octagon debut last night (Sat., May 14, 2016), knocking out Leslie Smith in the very first round at UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil.

See it again here.

Not everyone was thrilled with stoppage, though, as former UFC Middleweight contender Chael Sonnen lost it on ESPN when expressing his disdain for the referee's decision to stop the bout when he did.

"This was no fault of the competitors, they went and did their job, but the referee did what we call an early stoppage. There was no historical, justifiable, reputable placement for this referee to place his decision. And outside of us commenting on it on SportsCenter, there will be no form of discipline done so we might as well not even talk about. He will be back in the ring next wee with no explanation given. And that's just the reality. This was terrible I am upset about this. They came to fight, one girl went down and she never stopped moving. The rule book says she has to stop moving or be in danger and the referee stopped it. They might as well go and break you and I up right now. It was that ridiculous."

Fairly good points.

But, as we've seen in the past, Smith is as tough as they come, as she wanted to keep fighting against Jessica Eye despite her ear exploding mid fight. Smith was also visibly irate after the Cyborg fight, letting the hostile crowd that she wasn't out.

Nevertheless, Cyborg is now 1-0 under the UFC banner. But would you have liked to see the ref on duty let the action go on a little while longer?