UFC 115: Why The Carlos Condit/Rory MacDonald Stoppage Was Justified

I've read a lot of stuff where people were complaining about the stoppage in the Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald fight at UFC 115 this past weekend.  Most people felt that if the fight went to the judges scorecards that MacDonald had done enough to win the decision.  MacDonald was able to take Condit down several times but often did nothing with the position or lack of dominant positions obtained.  Whereas, Condit was a little more successful on the feet when he could keep the fight standing. 

It all goes back to the criteria being judged on as Charles Walker pointed out in the discussion thread that night.  Yes, MacDonald was winning the positional/control portion of the criteria, but Condit owned the damage inflicted category.

Some made the argument that MacDonald should have been allowed to finish the round because there were only a few seconds left, even though he was getting absolutely dominated.  My question is why?  As Condit and Dana White have pointed out, the referees don't know how much time is left in the round.  Sure they could glance up at the clock or listen for the 10 second count as a round draws to a close, but then would all of their attention be on the fighters as it should be?

Although MacDonald controlled Condit for the majority of two rounds should he have even been granted the decision win had he gotten out of the third round after the beating he took?  Personally(and I'm nobody), I always value damage inflicted more than position/control.  Take the Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez fight for example.  Guida had top position but Sanchez was thrashing him with those elbows from the bottom and opened Guida up.  I think that holds waaaay more weight than Guida having top position defending the elbows. 

I mean would it have made a difference if there were 22 seconds left in the fight when the referee stopped it?  Either way, MacDonald was getting hammered and the fight deserved to be stopped based on the amount of damage he was taking.

Look at the Mike Pyle/Jesse Lennox fight where Lennox tapped out with just a few seconds remaining.  What's the difference in that and what MacDonald was doing?  While MacDonald didn't technically quit, he wasn't offering anything in return so the stoppage was justified.