Issue 082

December 2011

But amongst the incredible celebrations of UFC 134 in Rio, once again the officials were in the spotlight

UFC 134 was one of the most incredible events I have had the pleasure to be involved in. Staged in my home country of Brazil, I must say what an honor and privilege it was to be officiating at ‘home’ in front of all the Brazilian fans. 

Mario Yamasaki

UFC referee

An MMA referee for 12 years, Mario has black belts in judo and BJJ and refereed the jiu-jitsu Pan-Am Games

The night was packed with a series of incredible highlights but I would like to concentrate my column in this issue on some of the more considered moments which occurred throughout the evening, namely, Rousimar Palhares’ premature celebrations and the standing up of Yves Jabouin and Ian Loveland.

Rousimar Palhares vs Dan Miller

If you missed this fight, I’ll give you a brief summary: Palhares was dominating Miller, knocked him down and suddenly pulled away from ground ‘n’ pound, believing the fight was over, and even straddled the cage in celebration, thinking referee Herb Dean had stopped the fight. For the record, Herb Dean did not stop the fight and made no action to stop the fight.

Let’s go over some background information. You have to remember that prior to this incident Palhares had faced a 90-day suspension by the New Jersey Athletic Commission, for attempting to hurt a fighter by not letting go of a submission. I believe with Miller, Palhares was trying to stay on the side of caution and did not want to get accused of doing the same thing. There is also some reports he thought he heard the referee yell “stop.” This might have been someone else yelling something from outside the cage, and Palhares mistook this call for that of the official. Referees do not only communicate verbally but also touch the fighters, or use their bodies to indicate a fight is being stopped. Regardless of what happened, Palhares was mistaken when he thought Herb Dean stopped the fight.

I’m not sure what backstage instructions were given to Palhares prior to the fight, but if Herb Dean was aware of the past incident with Palhares chances are that extra instructions would of been given to ensure a similar situation that happened in New Jersey wouldn’t happen in Brazil. If a referee knows a fighter has a black flag surrounding them on past infractions, then generally they will make sure that those same infractions do not happen under their watch in the cage. If additional specific instructions were in fact given, then this might have played a role in Palhares wanting to be certain he did not repeat his misdemeanor by being extra cautious.

Some situations such as the Palhares incident force a referee to think on their feet. It isn’t often you see one fighter who is dominating another fighter suddenly walk away. In this case, Herb Dean got Palhares off of the cage and calmly told Palhares the fight was not over, as well as Miller (who also believed the fight was over), and restarted 

the action.

There are some who may argue Dean should have taken a point away from Palhares, some would suggest for timidity (avoiding contact or running away from the action of the fight). But you can’t argue Palhares was being “timid” when he clearly dominated Miller up to that point, and the simple truth was he was confused and mistaken in assuming the fight was over. The real penalty Palhares faced was that the restart allowed Miller to recover enough to get back into the fight.

Yves Jabouin vs Ian Loveland

In the first round a kick from Jabouin is caught by Loveland, and he takes Jabouin to the mat. Loveland is caught in Jabouin’s butterfly guard and eventually ends up in Jabouin’s half guard. Loveland is fairly active and tries to go after the americana, but abandons the submission and starts concentrating on ground ‘n’ pound. Again he is active in 

his strikes. 

At this point the fight was stopped by referee Marc Goddard because of an issue with equipment (in this case some hand tape has come loose from Loveland’s glove). Loveland is taken to the corner and ‘Stitch’ Duran is called in and he quickly cuts the tape off. The fight is restarted with both fighters standing.

Equipment problems (mouthpiece, tape etc.) are something that every official has to deal with. As I have stated in previous columns the primary responsibility of the referee is to ensure fighters’ safety, and equipment is a component of safety. Loose tape might become an irritant to the fighter receiving strikes, or present other safety hazards.

In this case Marc Goddard made the evaluation and it is something I can’t comment on because I was not in the cage at the time. Generally a referee will want to deal with equipment problems in a timely manner, and pause the action during a lull or when there is diminished activity, if that is possible. If finding a lull in the action isn’t possible and the equipment is presenting a safety issue, then a referee needs to intervene and deal with the equipment issue. Again you need to be making continuous evaluations as to how each situation is impacting the fighter in terms of safety.

I know there has been some confusion and questions regarding the restart and the fact official Goddard chose to have both fighters restarted standing up, versus placing Loveland back into half guard, where he was utilizing that ground ‘n’ pound. This is a topic that comes up during Commission debriefings and seminars all the time and one that I will address in a future column where I can go into more detail. But this was a decision made by a very experienced official, who was best placed to make that call in the heat of the action.