In the main event of Fury FC 76 on Friday in San Antonio, Texas, flyweights Edgar Chairez and Gianni Vazquez fought with a five-round time limit. In round 4, Chairez put Vasquez into a Triangle Choke, and the latter gamely napped instead of tapping. Unfortunately, referee Frank Collazo somehow didn’t see Vasquez was out – for 20 seconds – despite the commentators and others screaming for an end to the bout.
Then Chairez switched to an armbar. The release of the Triangle allowed Vazquez to partly regain consciousness, eventually enough to tap. Absolutely unbelievably, another 20 seconds had passed. And unfortunately, before the tap, while unconscious, Vazquez sustained damage to his elbow joint.
As it was happening, the commentary team of Alex Morono, Michael Alexander, and Raheel Ramzanali were screaming for the fight to be stopped. Further, they report that the cageside physician was also trying to end it.
He’s breathing like he’s out. He’s breathing like he’s asleep. Look at his leg, said one commentator.
As seen below, the referee was oblivious. Then, after the switch to the armbarm, on an unconscious opponent, the referee still failed to see that a plainly unconscious man was unconscious.
Frank, he’s out! He’s out! yelled Morono to the ref.
Frank! What. Oh my gosh, implored Ramzanali. Frank, it’s done! Frank, it’s done! What are you doing? It’s done!
That was nuts. The doctor was yelling across the cage ‘he is out, stop the fight.’
Ridiculous scene at Fury FC. Edgar Cháirez puts Gianni Vazquez to sleep with a triangle, and the ref simply doesn't stop it. Cháirez ends up armbarring an unconscious Vazquez who wakes up in the submission. #Furyfc76 pic.twitter.com/AgcwI2i3ss
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 25, 2023
MMA is everywhere in North America regulated by state, provincial, tribal, and municipal government athletic commissions. At Fury FC 76, the responsibility to regulate fell to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
The public response from there was muted.
TDLR is aware of concerns about the officiating in one of last night’s fights,” wrote Mange in a public statement. “All TDLR officials receive ongoing training and we monitor each fight for consistency in officiating. Fight officials for each competition are always selected in conjunction with promoters.
The next day the TDLR assigned Collazo to judge at UFC on ESPN: Vera vs. Sandhagen, which took place on Saturday night, also in San Antonio. Everywhere else, there was outrage.
Fury Over Referee at Fury FC
With unanimity only very rarely seen in the sport, the shock extended nearly everywhere.
Fury FC Management
“It is the referee’s job to protect the fighter when the fighter cannot protect him or herself,” wrote Fury FC on their social network. “In last night’s main event, the referee failed to do this. While the job of a referee is one of the hardest to do in this sport, the need for proper and continued training would help to alleviate things like this incident.
“We do not hire, train or select refs for our shows, but we would be more than willing to lead a revamp and overhaul of the reffing and judging selection and training process.”
And it gets worse still. In Texas, MMA corners cannot “throw in the towel” as they do in boxing. Instead, the corner is supposed to go to an inspector, and stop the fight that way. Vazquez’s corner Colin Oyama says he tried, and got nowhere.
Colin Oyama, coach to Gianni
This ref needs to lose his job. And also the idiot inspector in my corner who refused to stop the fight even after I asked him to intervene and told him that my guy was out, wrote Oyama on his social network. “Because of the stupidity of these two, my fighter may have possible fractures in his elbow joint according to the ER that we went to. It’s always funny how Athletic commissions are always warning us to act accordingly and show them the respect that they deserve. Respect? The only thing these two commission guys deserve is to get fired. I had to watch my kid get his arm snapped off, while neither of you did a damn thing, hell I even threw a damn water bottle in there to try and stop the fight. Just because you work for the athletic commission doesn’t mean you are above reproach. You both need to be held accountable for your stupidity.
The gallant fighter himself weighed in.
Gianni Vazquez
“This is the fight game and is not a game,” began Gianni on his social network. “I say if you want to beat me you better gotta put me out cause if not is going to be a long night. I made a mistake and it cost me the fight that I feel I was winning, my opponent took advantage of that, and with some stupid referee that didn’t stop the fight when I was out, now I have to deal with a potential fracture on my arm and some ligaments damaged too. Sorry to all of you guys who support me and believe in me for not bringing the victory, sorry to my coaches for make a mistake that I’m the only one who is responsible for, sorry to all the fans for not giving you guys a better show. WWe came to fight till the end I did.”
UFC president Dana White was asked for his opinion the next day, at the UFC on ESPN: Vera vs. Sandhagen post-fight press conference.
Dana White
Obviously, I wasn’t there to see it but I saw it on social, and yeah that’s the kind of stuff that I really really don’t like, said White. That’s the kind of stuff that I really, really don’t like, if a guy gets choked unconscious and you don’t know he’s unconscious. Everybody has a bad night. Everybody makes mistakes. But if a guy gets choked unconscious and then they pull him into an armbar, I mean, it doesn’t get any worse than that. [Josh Burkman vs. Jon Fitch] was the one I went after [former referee Steve Mazzagatti] so bad about. … Mazzagatti had no clue. You shouldn’t be reffing if that happens, in my opinion.
Refereeing is the most thankless task in MMA. No one ever thanks a referee for a win, while countless losing fighters blame alleged incompetence. Fans and even fighters typically have only a cursory understanding of the rules they are complaining about. If you referee perfectly you are invisible; it is only in error that the subject comes up.
Nevertheless, referees are human, very occasionally all too human, and mistakes happen. And very, very rarely, the error is absolutely staggering in its incompetence, as it was here.
Worst of All Time?
So is this the worst MMA officiating of all time?
No.
Here’s another contender for missing a fighter going out. It happened in 2016 at the Underground Battle Mixed Martial Arts Championship event UGB13: Foreign Invasion, at Makati Coliseum, in Manila, Philippines.
Pakistan’s Ahmed Mujtaba sunk a rear naked choke on Rodian Menchavez. The purpose of a choke is to render the opponent unconscious. Unconscious people don’t move, never mind tap. As it is not uncommon for it to be ambiguous if he or she is out or not, what a ref does is ask the fighter to indicate through movement, even a thumbs up, that things are okay. Darting around looking for an unconscious person to tap won’t work.
In 1996 at Brazilian Vale Tudo Fighting 2, Rogerio da Silva and Eric Venutti were in a four-man tournament. On the first fight of the evening, Venutti knocked out Francisco Martins at 6:25 (rounds were 10 minutes at this event). Second fight was a decision by da Silva over Jenilson Santos.
The pair got a break while six more fights took place, and then they were brought back for the finals. Da Silva dropped Venutti with a well-timed straight right. Venutti was stretched out insensate. The ref jumped in, and as Venutti could no longer intelligently defend himself, the fight appeared over.
Then the ref indicated that the fight was still on, but Venutti was only just coming to, and could only make it to his knees, eyes turned to floor, doubtless wondering if it was the ceiling.
The ref then waved da Silva in to continue, as a dazed Venutti remained on all fours. Da Silva did as directed, and soccer kicked Venutti square in the face. The prone fighter then went right out, as the ref raised da Silva’s arm.
When Turkey’s first BJJ black belt Murat “Lord Pitbull” Kazgan had his first pro MMA fight, an official was brought in from France. Unfortunately, the ref didn’t know what a tapout was. That is not an expression, like “he doesn’t know what he is talking about.” This was apparently an MMA ref who, literally, did not understand that when a fighter taps, the fight is over.
When a mixed martial arts ref does his job ideally, no one notices. When a ref fails, it’s difficult to forget. How many taps did you count?
So while Frank Collazo’s failed refereeing is absolutely one of the worst job officiating in the modern era, it is not the worst. The final question then is this – what is going to be done by the TDLR?
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