Referee: Commission inspectors to blame for Romero-Kennedy mess

Almost everyone had a hand in a giant screwup at UFC 178 on Saturday night -- from the UFC cutman to referee John McCarthy. But the most direct people at fault were the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) inspectors in Yoel Romero's corner, according to MMA referee and judge Rob Hinds.

"Realistically, that's their job first and foremost," Hinds told FOX Sports.

Duties for commission inspectors range from overseeing fighters at weigh-ins to checking wraps and gloves in the locker room to "overseeing all activities during each bout," according to the NAC website. That, Hinds said, includes ushering cornermen out of the Octagon and getting the fighter out of the corner in time for the next round.

Tim Kennedy almost knocked Yoel Romero out near the end of the second round. Romero was essentially saved by the bell. Romero returned to his corner where the UFC cutman apparently put too much Vaseline on his face. McCarthy told Romero to have it wiped off and there was some kind of miscommunication with who was supposed to do it.

The end result was McCarthy standing in the middle of the Octagon ready to start the round and Romero still on his stool in the corner. Kennedy was understandably irate. McCarthy hurried over and got someone to get rid of the stool and wipe Romero down. There might have been a language issue also. Romero is from Cuba.

All in all, Romero got 28 extra seconds of rest, according to UFC president Dana White. Then, Romero went out and finished Kennedy by TKO, igniting a storm of controversy.

Hinds said that the inspectors are supposed to be the last ones out of the Octagon before the start of every round. The inspectors did yell at Romero to get out of the corner, White said, but it came "too late," per Hinds.

Yoel Romero beat Tim Kennedy by TKO in the third round, igniting controversy.

"Not just telling them, they need to be ushering everybody out," said Hinds, who is also an Association of Boxing Commissions certified referee and judge trainer. "They started yelling stuff, because they knew the next round was starting."

Kennedy is considering appealing the infraction and tweeted the NAC rule about a fighter losing by TKO if he or she is unable to come out for a round. Hinds said McCarthy would have had to be explicitly clear with Romero that he could call the fight if Romero didn't come out of the corner immediately before ruling it a TKO.

"The proper thing is if a fighter can't answer the start of the next round and doesn’t engage and doesn’t respond, that would be a TKO," Hinds said. "You would call off the fight. But at that level, none of us would do that without communicating directly with the fighter."

NAC executive director Bob Bennett told reporters Saturday night that he didn’t feel like it would have been a different result had Romero been on time coming off his stool. Bennett added that the chances of a result being overturned upon protest were "slim."

Romero maintained that he didn’t do anything wrong, that he was just following McCarthy's instructions. White acknowledged that it was a freak thing, but didn’t seem keen on giving Kennedy a rematch.

"It's very unfortunate," White said. "It's an odd thing that absolutely never happens."

But perhaps it could have been avoided if the inspectors were more on top of things.

"That's what we call a team fail," Hinds said. "Everybody dropped the ball. But those inspectors have specific, specific jobs."