UFC President Dana White Blasts UFC 96 Referees: In his post-UFC 96 press conference, UFC president Dana White expressed his disappointment and discuss at how UFC 96 officiating was handled during last Saturday night’s event at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
White was especially enraged about two specific fights: the early stoppage in the Nelson-Riley fight, and the late stoppage in the Sell-Brown bout. 
The refereeing got off to a bad start from the get-go. In the Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley fight, referee Rick Fike called it after 0:44 into a match that was slowly developing.
Everything began with the fighters feeling each other out for about 30 seconds. Then, the Hawaiian put Riley down with a right hand. Nelson continued, as he landed another right while Riley was on his knees, rolling into guard. At that point the fight was stopped. "It was definitely an early stoppage," said Riley. "I was completely there, I had all my faculties about me. I still do right now. That's not the way this was supposed to go."
“It drives me crazy, it’s such a personal thing for me,” White told reporters. “These guys train so hard. Those two kids had been in camp for six to eight weeks, training. They fly out here to fight and the fight gets stopped like that. Listen, people make mistakes all the time. That was a bad one,” White said.
However, the one that really lit a fire under White’s rear-end was the welterweight bout between Pete Sell and Matt Brown, officiated by Yves Lavigne. During the fight, Brown was absolutely teeing off on Sell. As the beating continued, Sell kept falling and backpedaling as he continued to absorb major punishment. It was so bad that at one point, Brown paused at a stumbling Sell, and turned to the ref as if to say ‘are you going to stop this’.
"I wanted him to stop the fight because it was clear to me Pete Sell was pretty much done," Brown said. "I didn't want to inflict any unreasonable damage he didn't have to take for (the) purpose of winning or losing the fight."
Nevertheless, the fight wasn’t stopped and the beating continued. I’m serious, I’m not even kidding, I hurt my arm tonight beating on the octagon, screaming to stop that fight. I’ve never done that, in eight years,” White stated. “I don’t event know what to say, I don’t even know what to say… it drives me crazy.”
