Mixed martial arts referees often come under fire for making poor decisions inside of the cage. While most of the controversy comes from early stoppages, there are also moments when the refs decide to let things go a little bit too long. That puts fighters in danger and one group of cornermen did not appreciate that over the weekend.
During a German MMA Championship event in Hamburg, GMC 18, a referee missed the towel being thrown in by one corner and that led to absolute chaos inside of the cage.
MMAjunkie.com shared a video of a fight between Omer Solmaz and Felix Schiffarth. The two men were battling it out for the featherweight championship when Solmaz found himself in top control in the fourth round. Solmaz began raining down some heavy ground-and-pound which led to Schiffarth’s corner throwing in the towel.
The ref didn’t see the towel being thrown in, so Schiffarth’s corner took things into their own hands.
The cornermen jumped over the cage and intervened in the fight, pulling Solmaz off of their fighter. The end result was a near brawl inside of the cage. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and the chaos ended up simply being a celebration of Solmaz’s victory.
You can check out the video below beginning at the 2:40 mark.
Mixed martial arts referees really need to start being better before someone gets seriously injured.
