On the night before UFC San Antonio, Texas hosted Fury FC 76. Unfortunately there was something very wrong that happened – due to a referee’s bad decision-making!
In the main event was Edgar Chairez and Gianni Vasquez. In round 4, Chairez used a triangle move on Vasquez, which caused him to passed out! This was clearly noticeable as even Alex Morono (a UFC welterweight) commented about it on the broadcast.
Referee Frank Collazo watched a dangerous hold for nearly 30 seconds while fighter Vasquez was unconscious, despite many people screaming to the referee that he should stop the fight. Chairez then transitioned to an armbar move which actually woke up Vasquez and made him tap out. Watch the scary video below! TDLR (Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation) also released a statement about this event.
The TDLR knows that people had problems with how the fight last night was officiated. They meet up with the promoters to decide which officials will be chosen for each competition, and the officials get training. On Saturday, someone from the promotion released a statement about what happened on the Fury Fighting Championship Facebook page.
The fight promotion said that last night’s main event did not go well because the referee didn’t do their job properly – which is to protect the fighter when they can’t protect themselves. They mentioned that becoming better at this difficult job can help avoid situations like this in the future.
We won’t manage the hiring, teaching, or choosing of refs for our events, but we would be happy to help with improving and updating the way refs and judges are selected and trained.