VIDEO: Conor McGregor thought Dublin bout which saw fighter hospitalised could have been stopped earlier

Conor McGregor believes that the referee could have stepped in sooner during Charlie Ward's TKO win over Joao Carvalho at Total Extreme Fighting 1.

TEF confirmed to SportsJOE on Sunday night that Carvalho is in a "very serious condition" in hospital following the knockout loss at the promotion's inaugural event in the National Stadium on Saturday night. Ward dropped the Portuguese fighter in the third round with a heavy right hand, took his back against the cage and landed nine ground and pound strikes on his downed opponent (some were partially blocked) before the referee intervened and awarded him the win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp0brVc1094&nohtml5=False Shortly after the fight Carvalho, who walked out of the cage and back to the dressing room after the fight, was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he remains in a very serious condition. UFC featherweight king Conor McGregor was among the crowd for the event, watching his teammate Ward, as well as fellow SBG fighters Blaine O'Driscoll and Luka Jelcic, who also competed on the card. The Notorious spoke to MMA Connect TV shortly after Ward's win, admitting that the fight could have been stopped sooner. The interview was conducted before it emerged that Carvalho was rushed to hospital after he began feeling unwell after the fight.

“My teammate Charlie had a good win just there. hell of a fight. Yer man took some big shots. Thought it could have been stopped a little earlier. I feel these referees need to be on the ball a little bit,”

However, McGregor did speak highly of the medical staff in the at the event, who were praised by the promotion for the swiftness in which they recognised and reacted to Carvalho's issues after the fight.

“To see the way it’s all progressed, the regulations and everything, all the medical staff and everything. It’s proper now. To see this is great”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_TlrB5ME3c