Written by Lyman Hoyt
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Monday, June 29 2009
The referee stands idly by as Gilbert Yvel pummels an already unconcious Pedro Rizzo. Yvel has apologized to Rizzo for the late stoppage, though he has nothing to apologize for. Every fighter is taught to keep fighting until the referee stops the contest. An apology should be forthcoming from the officials, the promoter and the Mississippi Athletic Commission. (Photo: Sherdog)
The best thing that can be said about Saturday’s ‘Ultimate Chaos’ event in Biloxi, Mississippi is that no one died. Unfortunately, that’s not a joke and is meant with the utmost seriousness. Fight fans are always quick to criticize officials, and in most cases they’re based on normative judgment calls. That wasn’t what happened at ‘Ultimate Chaos’. In perhaps the most egregious example of downright incompetent officiating seen in the US since the pre Zuffa UFC ‘dark ages, the ‘Ultimate Chaos’ referees put the fighters on the card at serious risk of injury or worse.
As noted in the SAVSCI
recap of ‘Ultimate Chaos’, the fights themselves were for the most part entertaining. The event was marred by atrocious production values that would have embarrassed an indy wrestling promotion or amateur porn video company. That doesn't reflect well on a promotion, but is also excuable. The officiating, however, was also second rate and unlike the aesthetic trappings of an event is simply a non-negotiable essential for assuring the safety of the competitors and the integrity of the sport.
The most reprehensible example of the shoddy refereeing came in the co-main event between Gilbert Yvel and Pedro Rizzo. Yvel won by knockout, catching Rizzo with a high kick followed by a looping right that sent ‘The Rock’ crashing to the canvas. A competent referee would have jumped in and stopped it before he hit the ground. Not only did that not happen, Yvel landed five uncontested right hands to the head of an unconscious Rizzo before the official finally stopped the fight.
Late stoppages are an unavoidable part of fight sports. They’re bad enough when they occur because a referee is out of position, or he can’t accurately assess how severely a fighter has been ‘rocked’ by a punch. Early stoppages raise the ire of fans and fighters, but it’s hard to have an issue when an official errs on the side of safety.
As the accompanying photo clearly shows, the Yvel/Rizzo stoppage wasn’t a matter of being out of position or not being able to tell that ‘The Rock’ was out cold. The referee is standing over the fighters in clear view, essentially gawking as one of the most brutal ground punchers in the sport bounces Rizzo’s head off the canvas like he’s dribbling a basketball. This sort of professional malfeasance would get the ref fired from the chicken wing restaurant that advertised in the cage between fights, and certainly he has no business officiating mixed martial arts.
Rizzo has now been brutally knocked out in four of his last six fights, so clearly it’s reached a point where he should be giving serious thought to his future in the sport. Still, he didn’t earn the nickname ‘The Rock’ for lacking toughness and the good news is that it appears that he suffered no serious damage from the late stoppage—at least none that is readily apparent.
There was another horrible bit of officiating in the main event between former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley and Japan pop culture icon Bob Sapp. Lashley quickly took ‘The Beast’ to the canvas and began a relentless ‘ground and pound’ assault. Sapp tried to tap twice near the end of the round, only to have his submission ignored by the referee. Sapp is 6’5” and 350 pounds: hard to miss it when a man of that size starts smacking the canvas furiously.
Sapp had been popped in the right eye, which as any serious Japanese fighting fanboy knows is the same side on which he suffered the shattered orbital bone in a K-1 match against Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic in 2003. Whether it was temporarily impaired vision, or a concern of reinjury that hastened his submission is something known only to Sapp. Again, the longterm damage of the poor judgment in officiating was minor: Sapp had a swollen eye, but was otherwise no worse for wear. Still, the potentially grave implications of a referee repeatedly missing a tapout are readily apparent.
Officiating a professional prize fight is an extremely difficult job, and in most instances we like to give refs the benefit of the doubt. We may disagree with an early stoppage, or a decision to stand fighters who are grappling on the ground but these are matters of judgment on which disagreement is expected. We may wince at an inadvertent late stoppage, but as noted earlier that’s an unavoidable part of the sport. And like a prizefighter, a referee has to start somewhere and work his way up. Still, the slim margin for error afforded in-ring officials and the potentially critical impact of a bad decision means that MMA and boxing simply cannot tolerate referees that show any signs of not being able to do the job. It’s not easy and few are able to perform the job at the highest level, which is why the best referees—‘Big John’ McCarthy, Herb Dean, Yves Lavigne, Troy Waugh and Steve Mazagatti to name a few—are often as well known as many fighters.
Unlike any other sport, the stakes in refereeing a professional boxing or MMA event are just too high to tolerate anything less than the best. If a baseball umpire makes a bad call, he may ring up a strikeout on a pitch that’s too high. Worst case scenario, a team can lose a game. If a fight sport official makes an error in judgment, worst case scenario is someone leaving the arena in a body bag
.
A major cause of poor, unqualified or inexperience officials being thrown in over their head is the promotion of MMA events in so called ‘non-commission states’. Mississippi is such a state, where boxing and MMA is regulated through a broadly definite Athletic Commission and not an authority specializing in fight sports. Of course, the lack of strong regulatory oversight isn’t an excuse—we frequently feature
the Costa Rica based ‘Fite Nite’ promotion here at SAVSCI and they make it a point to use very competent referees such as the aforementioned Waugh and Lavigne. Obviously the cost and logistical issues involved with getting officials of this quality in Central America is significantly greater than bringing them to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They have enough respect for the fighters and the sport to understand that in-ring officiating and other components that assure the safety of the competitors are not places to cut cost.
Every boxer or MMA fighter who steps into the ring or cage understands the risk inherent in fight sports. So too do promoters, fans and media—or at least they should. Ultimately, the only solution to promotions putting fighters at risk with substandard officiating is to make it an unwise business decision for them to do so. High profile fighters who have some clout behind their name need to think of the ones down the pecking order who don’t and refuse to work for promotions who repeatedly use unqualified officials. Fight sport media should hold promoters responsible for not taking every step possible to insure safe competition. Most significantly, fight fans need to vote with their wallet by refusing to buy tickets and PPVs and voicing their concerns to the promotion. Money is, after all, the lifeblood of fight sports and provides the most expedient route to necessary change.
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