The UFC's top referee explained why he didn't want to officiate Du Plessis' fight with Adesanya

Mark Goddard, a well-known UFC referee, explained why he asked not to be put on the fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya.

"I specifically asked not to be put in this fight. I didn't want to do that. I worked on their first fight and I thought Adesanya might be fixated on me. I serviced his next fight with Sean Strickland, but in the rematch against Pereira, I didn't want him to think things were repeating themselves. It was his night. I didn't want to go into Izzy's locker room and provoke any negative feelings in him," Goddard said on the OverDogs podcast.