Referee fails in MMA are always dangerous for at least one of the mixed martial artists involved in a bout. LFA welterweight Jalin Fuller just choked his opponent unconscious due to an error from the official.
Fuller faced Scott Writz on the main card of the LFA 150 event on January 13th. A video of the submission has been posted on Twitter, which shows a disturbing scene.
Almost 30 seconds into the very first round, Writz tried to take Fuller down but he put Writz into a ninja choke. The ref didn’t intervene in time and Writz remained in that hold for almost 45 seconds.
The commentators can be heard worrying about Writz’s state of consciousness as he’s trapped in the hold.
We can see Writz’s shoulder moving at first, but he gradually starts to lose it.
While it looks like he was communicating with Writz, the ref didn’t check his arm to assess his condition and see if he was still in it. He didn’t ask for him for a ‘thumbs up’, and didn’t look for any sort of intelligent defense either.
Writz can be seen trying to keep posture and keep his weight on his hands until Fuller switched to a high-elbow guillotine choke. The referee then decided to step in and separate the two.
He looked pretty much lifeless as the official pulled him away from Fuller, who’d go on to celebrate his quick victory.
As the clip has gone viral, referee Travis Metteer is getting heavily criticized for his inability to stop the bout in time. Fans are questioning his capabilities and judgment in officiating.
The clip has received responses from social media users such as:
“It’s incompetence like this from referees that are slowly pushing me away from this sport.” and “This ref should be forced to take some time off, and be locked in a ninja choke for 40 seconds.”
It looks like Metteer is an early contender for the ‘worst referee of the year’ award.