The referee's error forced J. Lucas to knock out his opponent twice. Photo: Reproduction/Twitter.
A regrettable and impressive episode marked the Thunder Fight MMA Amateur, held last Saturday (14), in São Paulo. In the fight between Jessian Lucas and Michael Douglas, contested at catchweight (up to 90kg), the referee ended up being the protagonist, making the mistake of not interrupting the fight at an early stage and allowing Lucas to knock out his opponent twice.
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On video (see below), it is possible to clearly observe the moment when Jessian hits Michael with a high kick straight to the jaw. Without action, Douglas falls practically unconscious and unable to react. Responsible for leading the confrontation, Kléber Lopes, instead of immediately interrupting the duel, allowed Lucas to continue striking his opponent.
To make matters worse, the referee allowed Douglas to get up and, according to his analysis, found that the Brazilian was in a position to continue in the confrontation. In this way, Lopes restarted the fight and, thus, Jessian, once again, hit his rival hard, who collapsed again. This time, Kléber chose to end the confrontation.
Responsible for selecting the conductors of the fights, the National MMA Athletic Commission (CANMMA) exempted the Thunder Fight organization and assumed full responsibility for what happened. In a statement, the entity expressed not only about the episode, but also about other mistakes in the event.
“The referee team, 'Referee Team', which is an arm of the National MMA Athletic Commission, was hired by the event to referee and judge 51 amateur MMA fights. As it was an amateur event, the Arbitration Committee decided to give some trainees the opportunity and, unfortunately, there were some mistakes in some fights.
We emphasize that the Thunder Fight organization does not have or had any decision on the arbitration scale and is completely exempt from the errors made by the referees in question”, published those responsible, in a note signed by the vice-president of CANMMA, Anderson Ulysses.
In the text, the Commission also deals with the clash between Jessian and Douglas specifically. Citing the name of the arbitrator, the members of the entity pointed out the errors in question.
“At 11 seconds of the 1st round, athlete Michael suffered a KO (knockout) after receiving a high kick to the head and the referee, making his first mistake, did not stop the fight. Making the second mistake, he allowed the fight to continue with the athlete unconscious. Athlete Jessian, realizing the fight was continuing, attacked Michael and delivered seven blows to the face, blows that, according to amateur MMA rules, are illegal. The referee then stopped the fight, made his third mistake, not warning and punishing the athlete Jessian for the illegal blows, put both athletes on their feet and ordered the fight to continue. At 24 seconds of the same round, athlete Michael received another KO and the fight was stopped by the referee, giving victory to athlete Jessian.
We apologize to the athletes, teams, MMA fans and the Thunder Fight event for the mistakes made due to lack of experience,” they wrote.
Watch the referee's mistakes
Amateur MMA Thunder Fight Cup. Why? pic.twitter.com/VFEydIQHj7
- Sweep his leg (@Barrelelapierna) November 16, 2020
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