Being a mixed martial arts ref is thankless. No fighter who ever won, ever, thought to himself “the ref gave me that win.” But in a significant number of losses, fighters and camps point to ref incompetence as a factor. Fans too will offer criticism of decisions that must be made in far, far, far less than a second.

Further, there is a common misconception that promotions choose the ref. If a ref does not do well, it is not the promotion’s fault. Responsibility for choosing and licensing fight refs falls to the relevant Athletic Commission.

All that said, what happened this past weekend at Jungle Fight 88 in the fight between Henrique Lopess and Jonny Walker was just plain stupid and scary.

https://twitter.com/GrabakaHitman/status/746920331546361856

As the fight starts, Walker is feinting like he is going to shoot a takedown but instead comes up with a front kick that is countered with a beautiful right hand by Lopes. Walker is knocked down and basically out, but recovers.

As Walker starts to this feet, Lopes follows up with some huge strikes that floor him and again he falls to the mat knocked out. You can see his body go stiff.

Lopes stops striking and walks past and over the head of his opponent as he believes the fighter is over, but Walker pops up and the referee allows the fight to continue. As he stands, Lopes lands another huge right hook that sends Walker back to the canvas but not completely out. Lopes follows up with another couple huge punches and Walker’s body goes limp again and this time, mercifully, the referee puts an end to the fight.

About Jungle Fight

Jungle Fight was founded by pioneering MMA fighter and long-time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, Wallid Ismail. The organization was created in 2003 and its first event was in Manaus, Amazonas. In 2006 there was an event in Slovenia, the first and so far only, Jungle Fight event held outside of Brazil. No events were held in 2007, but in 2008 it began to hold a series of events in Rio de Janeiro.

source: wikipedia.com