After failing to live up to the hype on his debut, Sharaputdin Magomedov had a point to prove at UFC Saudi Arabia. ‘Bullet’ stepped inside the Octagon in Riyadh to take on Antonio Trocoli in the latter’s Fight Night debut. And guess what? The undefeated Russian ace earned his first finish in Dana White‘s promotion. Regardless, there was an incident that prompted former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and UFC fans to speak out, especially about the referee, Marc Goddard.

Sharaputdin Magomedov’s knockout win may have been stained with allegations of grabbing the fence. As we already know, that’s an illegal move, and the way Marc Goddard handled the situation left a bad taste in Aljamain Sterling’s mouth. He took to X and called out Marc Goddard for his game-changing mistake.

“Fight changing TD gets no honor in this scrap. These refs really play a crucial role in the octagon. Now Troccoli gets finished lol. Crazy game,” tweeted ‘Funk Master’. Aljamain Sterling would also reply to a fan, who also pointed out the fence-grabbing incident, for which Marc Goddard did not deduct any points from Sharaputdin Magomedov but would just warn him.

The former bantamweight champion believes that fans might have gotten to witness a different outcome to the fight if not for the referee undermining the fence-grabbing situation. Nevertheless, Aljamain Sterling did give Sharaputdin Magomedov his due by praising the final sequence that led to the knockout. “Possibly could’ve been a completely different result. But now we’ll never know due to the ref letting that crucial moment slide. Either way, nasty finishing sequence from Shara,” Sterling added in a separate tweet. Now, let’s see what the fans had to say.

Fans side with Aljamain Sterling on referee error during Sharaputdin Magomedov’s fight

For starters, yes, the fans agreed with the former bantamweight champion that Sharaputdin should have had points deducted. However, they do not believe that it would have made any difference anyway because he eventually knocked out Antonio Trocoli. On the other hand, some fans are finding it hard to believe in the ‘Bullet’s hype of being a dangerous fighter. They said, “Yeah, should have deducted a point but Shara was going to win anyway,” and, “I think the guys all hype.”

Additionally, many fans claim that Marc Goddard absolutely stole the win from Antonio Trocoli who almost secured the takedown if not for Sharaputdin Magomedov to grab the fence. As such, they didn’t shy away from voting out their frustrations at the referee. The fans added, “That was a last ditch effort with what looked like the last bit of energy he had and was robbed by the dance grab and the terrible reffing,” “Goddard is a**,” and, “Goddard f***ing SUCKS.”

Antonio Trocoli was seriously out of energy as he made his final effort for a takedown. He put on a good fight, to say the least, and even landed some significant strikes. But fans believe all that went to waste because he was cheated in the end. “Burning up all that energy to just be cheated.” Yet, some others believe there are a lot of positives for the Brazilian to take away from the Sharaputin Magomedov fight, but there are a few facets he’ll need to improve on. “Antonio would have a ton of momentum going into the 3rd. He would have had plenty of time to work him on the ground.”

What do you think about Sharaputdin Magomedov’s win? Was it controversial? Drop your comments below.