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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC President Dana White was massively critical of referee Steve Mazzagatti following last Friday's World Series of Fighting 3 main event, where Josh Burkman choked Jon Fitch out cold in the night's main event. White lambasted Mazzagatti for incompetence and said he's going to get someone seriously hurt in the future.
White also went after the Nevada State Athletic Commission for continuing to book Mazzagatti, and said they'd likely book Mazzagatti in the Anderson Silva-Chris Weidman main event now next month at UFC 162 in Las Vegas. Perhaps as if to prove White's claims, NSAC executive director Keith Kizer came to Mazzagatti's defense in an interview with MMAFighting.com.
"It as neither a positive or a negative on the referee. All of us in the arena, and the commentators who know their stuff, were really shocked Jon was out," Kizer said of the Burkman-Fitch finish. "Steve was right there. He had to walk two steps. He walked two steps and waved off the fight. It was very easy for him, and every easy for Josh as well. It was a weird ending to the fight, but good for Josh."
"Bas Rutten, who was doing the live commentary at the moment Josh got the move, he said how Josh didn't have full guard. He gave the impression it [the guillotine] wasn't going to work," Kizer continued. "He then stood up, and there was awkward silence from Bas. He was shocked. Other fighters in the front row were shocked. When Josh started to stand up, he [Rutten] thought that he's not going to get him so he's going to transition to another move. Then he saw it and said, 'Wow, Jon Fitch is out.'"
"The guy went out and Josh immediately released the hold. What's weird is he flipped Fitch over, away from the ref. When Josh had the hold, he (Mazzagatti) was one step away. He had a perfect view. Josh flipped him away from the ref, then stood up. I would praise the referee if he did a good job. But here, there's nothing to talk about the ref. It wasn't a good job or a bad job. He had no job. I think most people thought Jon was going to get out. Bas and I both thought he was letting go of the hold and transitioning to another hold."
Kizer additionally addressed White's comments regarding the commission, and wrote them off somewhat, along with White's general take on the situation.
"Dana's a good guy," said Kizer. "Very few people care about other people as much as Dana. But you've heard what he's said about former fighters, former employees, even fighters in his organization. Even Jon Jones. He likes to put people down, whether rightly or wrongly. It's an ego thing. We all have egos. I think it's wrong when people lie and you can make your own conclusions on Dana."
Penick's Analysis: Kizer's off here defending Mazzagatti. I don't at all agree that Mazzagatti had a "perfect view" of the finish, and look no further than this screen shot from the broadcast (captured by Jeremy Botter at BleacherReport.com):
Mazzagatti's legs are technically in view, but he didn't move close into the action in that spot until Burkman was already standing over Fitch, and he was on the wrong side of the hold to begin with. If Burkman hadn't had the thought to release the hold, Fitch could have suffered some highly undue damage because Mazzagatti wasn't there to stop it. He was on the wrong side of the choke, and wasn't anywhere close to examine where Fitch was as the fight hit the ground. And using Rutten's commentary from the night - which was far from spot on start to finish - isn't a defense of Mazzagatti. Yes, things happened quickly; yes, it wasn't immediately obvious that Fitch was out; but his arm went limp and then Burkman flipped him over. It didn't look like Fitch was making a move to transition out. That was all Burkman. Thankfully he was in the right mindset and made that move, but it's Mazzagatti's job to be in a better spot than he was and to react much more quickly than he did.
Updated as a reader pointed to the video of the fight which shows Mazzagatti standing in front of the advertisement on that screen shot. But he's still on the wrong side of the hold and doesn't react until Burkman stands.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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