Choke are the safest submission. If a fighter goes out from a strike, there is likely a degree of concussion involved. On average ten boxers have died each year since 1900. By contrast, zero fatalities as a result of chokes have been reported in the sport of Judo since its inception in 1882.
However, in order for chokes to be safe, the referee has to have even a tiny degree of competence. Brazil has one of the best commissions in the world – CABMMA – but it is not mandatory. Demolidor Fight does not take advantage of CABMMA, and as a result, a fighter nearly died.
Rafael Barbosa fought Melquizael Costa for the Demolidor Fight lightweight championship on Saturday, August 18, in Bauru, Brazil. In the third and final round, Barbosa locked in an Anaconda, Costa went out, and Barbosa yelled to the referee that he was out. Unfortunately, it took the referee 1:34 after the fighter went out to stop the fight. The referee even instructed the fighter to not release the choke.
When it was finally stopped, Costa opened his eyes after five minutes, but couldn’t respond or move his arms and legs. It took ten minutes for him to return to a normal state. He spent the night in the hospital and has been released, but will undergo further exams to see if he has suffered any further effects.
Barbosa is the hero here – he knew his opponent was out, so loosened the hold to a degree. Costa’s corner bear some responsibility as well, as they were telling their fighter to keep fighting, but that’s their job. The referee’s responsibility is fighter health and safety, and he failed utterly.
Fighters can go out with their eyes open. Unconscious fighters can shake. That’s why a referee has to establish with fighters that if they are caught in a choke, they make be asked to give a thumbs up (if that can be done without in any way compromising the play of the game). A referee will also lift a fighters limb, typically an arm, and drop it. None of this happened, and a fighter could have died as a result.
If you want to know what’s going on Brazil, or for that matter the world, follow MMA Fighting‘s ever-awesome Guilherme Cruz, who spoke with all parties involved.
He locked the anaconda choke, and when I turned to the wrong side, I went out, explained Costa to Cruz. The first thing I remember is opening my eyes and seeing my coaches and a doctor over me, calling my name, and I couldn’t breathe. It was agonizing. I only came back to normal when I got to the hospital and they gave me some serum.
I saw in the video that I went out and my eyes were open. You might think I’m awake, but I was already out. I moved a couple of times, but I was having seizures. My corner and his corner yelled that I was out, but the referee said he would only stop the fight if I was out. And I was! Every referee touches the fighter to see if they are out, but he never touched me. My opponent stopped the fight. Otherwise, I would be dead.
I saw death so close. My opponent let me go, otherwise I would be dead if I had to wait for the referee. It was horrible. It was agonizing for me when I came back because I couldn’t breathe.
The referee, BJJ black belt and coach Emerson Saez, described the fight to Cruz as seen from the best seat in the house.
Everything happens too fast in there, it’s different than looking at the video later,” said Saez. “You have to make a quick decision in there, and at the same time, I thought if I stop this early and he’s in the fight, it will be controversial. I let it go a little bit longer, and when I realized his eyes and his expression were changing, I stopped the fight. … I didn’t notice him having a seizure. If I had noticed that, I would have stopped it earlier to protect the athlete.
Watching the video now, I only see one abnormal thing, which is his leg shaking a little bit. Maybe he went out with his eyes open, but these are situations that happen in there and you don’t notice. Unfortunately, these are decisions that have to be made in a split second and I didn’t notice his leg shaking. I saw him moving, but I thought he was doing a hip escape.
I stayed close to them and talked to the athlete and he had his eyes open, was pushing his opponent’s belly. I told his opponent not to let go because he was in the fight. ‘If you let it go and the fight continues, you can’t complain later. Continue with that because he’s not out.’ I wasn’t negligent. Unfortunately, I was criticized for that. I was upset for the athlete, worried about him, but everything happens too fast in there. Ninety seconds, 50 seconds, but you have to make decisions. I was worried about separating them and the fight continuing. It has happened to me in the past, unfortunately.
It’s like in soccer, sometimes you only see something on the tape. We make mistakes, too. If God makes mistakes, any human being is subject to mistakes. But I never intended to hurt any athlete. I would never hurt anyone’s careers and dreams.
Demolidor Fight promoter Jeferson Pavanelo told Cruz that he hired the National MMA Confederation (CNMMA) to sanction the contest. Hours before the event, Pavanelo was told that the main team of CNMMA refs couldn’t make it, so trusted officials would be sent instead. Pavanelo said Saez had tried to work his events before, but been told that only CNMMA refs were used. How Saez suddenly became licensed is not yet clear.
There are reports that the CNMMA president says he was not paid enough by the promotion to bring in a team from another state. A tragedy very nearly resulted. Mixed martial arts is dangerous, which is why regulation has to be taken seriously, and not nickle and dimed. Brazil has the tremendous reasource that is CABMMA. But it has to be used.
