Check out this entertainingly edited-together compilation video highlighting some of the worst calls (or lack of) by referees in the history of mixed martial arts!

Being a referee in any sport is tough, no matter what you do someone is going to say that you did your job wrong and in mixed martial arts it is an even more difficult position to be in. One little mistake could drastically change a fighter’s future, both his career or his health.

The majority of fans make the mistake of thinking that the promotions that put on fights, like the UFC or Bellator, are the ones that choose the referees and judges. It is actually the local state athletic commissions that are in charge of it.

A lot of if not most of the judges and referees come from a boxing background, giving them limited knowledge of the other parts of mixed martial arts that are so crucial to officiating. It is almost like if you were to have a referee from rugby come in to work the Superbowl, but it is only worse because when a fighter is competing he is putting his life in the hands of the ref.

Luckily mistakes of this caliber happen far less in major organizations, but it also doesn’t make them immune to them.

Just recently in a UFC bout between Hector Lombard and Neil Magny, there could be an argument made that the fight should have been stopped in both the first and second round, but it was finally stopped in the third. But in the second round, with ninety seconds left in the contest Magny secured the mount position and landed over 100 unanswered strikes. If that isn’t enough to call an end to a fight, I don’t know what is.

There obviously needs to be more clear guidelines or better training for referees if they’re going to have so much power in their hands, but that is easier said than done.

Check out the video below and let us know what you think! How do you think you would do as a referee? Can you think of any other major referee mistakes in combat sport history?