UFC Vegas 97 was not a great night for officiating.
It’s not uncommon for a fence grab or low blow to be missed and go unpunished. It happens and is largely understood to part of the chaos of MMA. The more frustrating situation is when the referee clearly sees something illegal happen then actively chooses not to intervene. Not only did that happen twice last night, but it directly impact the outcome of two separate fights!
The first and most egregious example came in the early “Prelim” match between Jaqueline Amorim and Vanessa Demopoulos. Amorim was dominating the fight when she advanced into mount and starting setting up an armbar. Demopoulos started screaming out that Amorim was grabbing the inside of her gloves, which is illegal.
The referee was right on top of the action and seemed to acknowledge the compliant. He didn’t interfere, however, and Demopoulos was tapping to an armbar. A lot of fight fans — myself included, to an extent — felt that Demopoulos spent more time complaining about the glove hooking then actually defending the armbar.
Then, the screenshots came out alone, and they don’t look great! See for yourself:
Pretty blatant glove grab and I can see why Vanessa is mad – it slowed her turning into the guard so Amorim took her back instead of losing position. But also Vanessa hadn’t switched her hips at this point so still wasn’t a certain escape pic.twitter.com/HegOGWE1wA
— Josie Aldo (@JosieAldoMMA) September 7, 2024
A referee right on the scene and an entire commission to review the call, and they still can’t get it right. Demopoulos could file an appeal, but when do those ever work in MMA? It’s almost certain that the win will stand.
A bit later, Steve Garcia and Kyle Nelson squared off in a match up of surging veterans. Nelson started strong with an early back take and control, but the fight changed in an instant when Garcia reversed his way into top position. He quickly ended the fight with a nasty series of elbows, battering Nelson into submission.
The problem is that one of the biggest ones landed directly on the back of the head. Now, this is a bit more of a gray area than the first one, as Nelson was a moving target throughout the exchange. All the same, the referee was — again — right on top of the action, warning Garcia to watch the back of the head when the blow landed. It also created a huge and visible bruise on the back of Nelson’s head, in case anyone was uncertain that the connection happened.
I don’t think Garcia intended to hit Nelson in the back of the head, but because he did, he scored his fifth-straight knockout win. Arguably, it’s the best victory of his career, and it earned him an extra $50k.
The golden rule of MMA stands strong: if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying!
For complete UFC Vegas 97 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.