MMA Referee Retires After Allowing Fighter To Be Choked Unconscious For 90 Seconds

A mixed martial arts (MMA) referee has made the decision to retire after a horrendous job of officiating recently.

This past Saturday night (August 18, 2018) under the Demolidor Fight banner in Bauru, Brazil, Melquizael Costa and Rafael Barbosa went to battle for the lightweight title. In the third round, Barbosa went for a standing choke before locking in an anaconda choke as they hit the ground.

A few seconds later, Barbosa told the referee his opponent was unconscious. It was very evident to those watching that Costa was out. Despite this, referee Emerson Pereira Saez simply stood next to Costa without checking if he was conscious or not.

After a ridiculous 90-second waiting period, Saez finally called the fight off. As soon as Barbosa got to his feet he told Saez “I told you.” Watch the video, which went viral earlier this week, here:

WTF Ref! pic.twitter.com/UMdFkCPlhn

— Bruno Massami (Бруно Массами) (@BrMassami) August 20, 2018

Costa, who was the fighter rendered unconscious, described the scary incident to MMA Fighting in a recent interview:

“He locked the anaconda choke, and when I turned to the wrong side, I went out,” Costa said. “The first thing I remember is opening my eyes and seeing my coaches and a doctor over me, calling my name, and I couldn’t breathe. It was agonizing. I only came back to normal when I got to the hospital and they gave me some serum.

“I saw in the video that I went out and my eyes were open. You might think I’m awake, but I was already out. I moved a couple of times, but I was having seizures. My corner and his corner yelled that I was out, but the referee said he would only stop the fight if I was out.

“And I was! Every referee touches the fighter to see if they are out, but he never touched me. My opponent stopped the fight. Otherwise, I would be dead.”

“When his opponent let him go, (Costa) fell on the ground and looked like he was dead,” said Costa’s manager Adriano Vilela, who was in his corner that night. “I had never seen something like that in my life. It took 10 minutes for him to come back to normal. He was breathing slowly, still out.

“He opened his eyes after five minutes, but still couldn’t respond to us or move his legs or arms. I thought he was going to die. … His opponent was desperately yelling that he was out, and if he hadn’t stopped the fight on his own, the referee would left him there forever. That was absurd.”

Referee Emerson Pereira Saez also got the opportunity to tell his side of the story:

“He was in the anaconda choke, and I didn’t notice he was having a seizure,” Saez said. “He had his eyes open and didn’t present any symptom of loss of conscience. I thought he was trying to escape. He was calm, breathing, and I didn’t notice his leg shaking.

“His arm, the one that wasn’t trapped in the choke, was pushing his opponent’s belly the entire time. There were four people in a corner a meter away from me, and no one noticed it, or they would have yelled. No one noticed anything, and me neither.

“Everything happens too fast in there, it’s different than looking at the video later. You have to make a quick decision in there, and at the same time, I thought if I stop this early and he’s in the fight, it will be controversial.

“I let it go a little bit longer, and when I realized his eyes and his expression were changing, I stopped the fight. That’s exactly what happened. I didn’t notice him having a seizure. If I had noticed that, I would have stopped it earlier to protect the athlete.

“Watching the video now, I only see one abnormal thing, which is his leg shaking a little bit. Maybe he went out with his eyes open, but these are situations that happen in there and you don’t notice. Unfortunately, these are decisions that have to be made in a split second and I didn’t notice his leg shaking. I saw him moving, but I thought he was doing a hip escape.”

After his controversial job of officiating the fight, Saez has made the decision to retire from his career as an MMA referee:

“My family and I think it’s time to retire,” Saez said. “I’ve done my best. I wish (Costa) and his opponent the best. They are young, and I hope they can build their dreams.”