The main purpose of having a referee at an MMA event is to make sure two fighters don't kill each other. apparently the one you're about to see didn't get the cue, and it almost cost one of the athletes their life.
In a showdown between Silmar “Sombre” Nunes and Caio “Paturi” Robson Silva in the Capanema Fight Combat event in Brazil, things got ugly when Nunes managed to get his counterpart into a tight guillotine. Robson, who was essentially defenceless, remained in the hold for an extended period of time as the referee watched beside them. After he checked Silva's arm and saw it drop limply, the referee decided to keep things going.
Silva's cornerman had seen enough, and decided it was time for someone to take action. Full of anger and concern, he leaped the fence, pushed the referee, and began feeding Nunes with fists.
Maybe not the best way to handle the situation, but at least someone stepped in.
After the brawl, Nunes made sure to check in on his unconscious opponent and later commented on the situation over social media.
As translated by MMAJunkie, the message reads: “P.S: If you don’t tap you’ll go to sleep. Another win, thank God, I was assaulted at the end of the fight, but everything went OK.” Talk about a nightmare of a situation.
Being a referee isn't easy, but hopefully all of the ones in the sport of MMA took a valuable lesson from this scary fight.
(H/T MMAJunkie)
