Officials under scrutiny after controversies

The buzz coming out of Saturday’s UFC 85 card in London and Elite XC’s May 31 network prime-time debut on CBS was more about controversies over referee and doctor judgment calls than impressive performances by the winners.

Five matches between the two shows had post-match controversy.

UFC 85: Nathan Marquardt loses to Thales Leites after being docked two points for fouls: Marquardt lost a split decision to Leites after being called for two fouls by referee Herb Dean. The first, from an illegal knee when Leites was still grounded, was the right call, and the damage was such that Leites needed time to clear his head.

The second, early in round three, was when Dean ruled Marquardt was elbowing Leites behind the head. Dean stopped the action and called for another penalty point taken away from Marquardt, noting he had given Marquardt a warning as his reason for docking him the second point.

Marquardt protested, claiming the elbows were to the side of the head, making them perfectly legal. Television replays showed Marquardt to be correct. That point spelled the difference between Leites winning a split decision and what would have been a majority draw in a fight which Marquardt actually dominated although we had the same 28-27 score for Leites due to the docked points. Marquardt immediately asked for a rematch and UFC officials confirmed such a match was likely.

Compounding matters further, Marquardt used a piledriver-like move on Leites in the waning seconds of the fight, which wasn’t called. It is illegal to spike someone on the top of his head.

On a major television or pay-per-view production, where multiple camera angles are available, referees should be encouraged to use instant replay on a call that ends up deciding the outcome. In the case of Marquardt-Leites, instant replay would have enabled Dean to look at both the borderline elbow and whether the piledriver-like move dropped Leites on his head, which would be illegal; or on his shoulders, which is legal.

Ironically New Jersey, where last week’s controversy took place, added a rule last year allowing instant replays to be used in MMA and boxing. There is no sanctioning commission in the United Kingdom, thus no provision for instant replay.

Judgment calls and human error are inherent in the fight game, but for the fighters and the fans, it’s also essential all steps are taken to make the fewest mistakes possible.

Elite XC: Kimbo Slice defeated James Thompson; UFC 85: Fabricio Werdum defeated Brandon Vera, both on questionable stoppages: In this case, there were two referee stoppages on different continents, both involving the same referee, Dan Miragliotta.

In the case of Slice vs. Thompson, the main question was Miragliotta’s lack of a stoppage in the second round when Thompson was raining down unanswered blows on Slice, who was on his back doing nothing on offense.

“I asked Dan (after round two) why he didn’t stop it,” said Nick Lembo, the attorney for the New Jersey Athletic Control Board, which oversaw the event. “He told me the punches (Thompson was throwing) weren’t doing any damage. He said, ‘I asked Kimbo if he was hurt and he gave me a thumbs up. I didn’t see any damage being inflicted’”

This was magnified because the show was built around Slice, who was losing on the scorecards.

Then, in the third round, when Miragliotta stopped the fight after Slice landed a series of punches standing, announcer Gus Johnson screamed that the stoppage was premature, meaning the audience of 6.5 million fans immediately questioned it as well.

Werdum’s win over Vera was the opposite. Miragliotta stopped the fight as Werdum tagged Vera on the ground with unanswered blows.

“That ref sucks,” said Vera at the UFC post show press conference. “The referee was asking me, talking to me, saying something like, ‘Are you okay?’ He was talking to me. I remember he was talking to me and I was saying, ‘I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.’ I said it three times.”

Vera was on the ground in a bad position with Werdum throwing more than 20 unanswered punches. Both in the ring and after the show, Vera said he was expecting to take a beating for the final 20 seconds of the first round because Werdum had such a strong mount. Under normal circumstances, the stoppage likely wouldn’t have been controversial had Vera not been so vehement about it, but having the same referee in two such matches magnified the result.

Elite XC: Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith, no-contest due to stoppage: This fight was stopped in the third round after Smith was accidentally poked in the eye. Smith protested that he didn’t get his full five minutes to recover, which is mandated in the unified MMA rules, before Dr. Sherry Wulkan recommended the match be stopped.

“That (5:00 time frame) rule has been misunderstood,” said Lembo.

“You’re not guaranteed five minutes. You can get up to five minutes based on ringside officials. You can’t say, ‘I’m fine, I want three-and-a-half more minutes.’”

Lembo said Smith repeatedly told Wulkan he couldn’t see out of the poked eye, and when she asked him if it was getting better, he said it wasn’t, and that’s when the call was made. Lembo noted he told Wulkan before checking Smith that it was a championship fight and nobody would want to see it end that way. Smith himself gave a funny reaction when asked on television about it, saying he wanted to continue, but actually said he expected he would have gotten knocked out if it did continue.

Elite XC promoter Gary Shaw confirmed Monday that he was planning on rematching Lawler and Smith, who were having the most exciting match on the show before the stoppage. If the next CBS show is in the fall, the fight would likely take place on the network. Shaw said the date of the next CBS card is expected to be finalized this week in a joint decision with CBS. Due to the success of the first show, CBS wants to have a return date in late July to capitalize on the momentum. Shaw feels Lawler and Smith wouldn’t be ready for a July date, nor would Slice.

Elite XC: Gina Carano defeated Kaitlin Young, stoppage:

This match was stopped in the second round due to a huge cut under Young’s left eye. Young claimed that the doctors cleared her to continue to fight, but ‘the guy in the white shirt’ (Lembo) with the commission overruled them. Young claimed because it was a woman’s fight on CBS, that they were quicker on the draw to stop it than if a man had been in a similar spot.

“I really wish everyone was miked and everything that was said was picked up,” said Lembo. “Kaitlin came out and flat out lied.”

Young vehemently denied the charge on her personal Web site.

Lembo said that two doctors, Dr. Michael Kelly and Dr. Wulkan, both examined Young and both suggested stopping for different reasons.

Kelly was concerned about neurological damage, and Wulkan saw the huge swelling under Young’s eye and feared a possible orbital fracture.