UFC 208 was not your typical UFC event. The inaugural card for the women’s featherweight division featured a controversial decision after 5 rounds between Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie.

GDR subsequently apologized:

 “It wasn’t meant for me to hit her after the bell,” the Netherlands native said. “It was in the heat of the moment. I apologize. I’m not like that.”

Holm claims the illegal punches in question were bad intentioned and quite intentional.

“She hit hard shots after the bell, those are the hardest shots I felt the whole entire fight,” Holm said during the post-fight press conference. “It was after the bell. I heard the bell, I stopped and she threw it. It wasn’t like the last punch of a combination when the bell rang. It was intentional.”

“A lot of times, the first one they give a warning, that’s kind of normal,” Holm said. “I wouldn’t expect them to take a point after the first one, even though it was intentional. The second time, at that point you think at that point, they’d do something.

“I mean, some of her best shots of the whole night were after the bell. I don’t know how the judges saw that. If they see that as points for her then what can you do?”

However now one of the most respected refs in the business, Big John McCarthy is explaining what happened:

@thomaskirkbrid1 the round officially ends at the call of the referee. The bell is their notification

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) October 27, 2014

Big John added:

It is actually for the corner people to get ready for the break. It does help the referee in knowing when the round should end #AskBJM https://t.co/9kqvutkxUe

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) February 5, 2017