The main event of Fury FC 76 in San Antonio, Texas between Edgar Cháirez and Gianni Vazquez ended in horrific fashion after the referee in the fight failed to recognize an unconscious fighter.
Cháirez locked in a triangle choke in the fourth round of the five-round main event. However, referee Frank Collazo failed to realize that Vasquez had gone unconscious despite nearly everyone in the arena realizing this was the case.
The commentators began screaming to Collazo that Vasquez was indeed unconscious. These pleas also were not recognized by Collazo. The fight was finally mercifully stopped after Vasquez woke up and tapped to an armbar that Cháirez had transitioned to.
This moment was obviously completely negligent on the part of the referee. This prompted Fury FC to release a statement on the matter Saturday.
“It is the referee’s job to protect the fighter when the fighter cannot protect himself or herself. In last night’s main event, the referee failed to do this. While the job of a referee is one of the hardest to do in the sport, the need for proper and continued training would help to alleviate things like this incident.
“We do not hire, train or select refs for our shows, but we would be more than willing to lead a revamp and overhaul of the reffing and judging selection and training process.”
Some may blame Fury FC for this incident. However, the Texas State Athletic Commission is actually to blame since they are the one’s training and assigning referees for events.
This absolutely unforgivable mistake by the referee also unfortunately led to a significant injury to Vazquez. He released a statement on Instagram about his injuries, saying that he is dealing with “a potential fracture and some ligament damage” on his arm.
This obviously could have been a whole lot worse. It certainly could have potentially been a fatal injury considering how long he was in the choke while unconscious. Luckily that wasn’t the case, but it seems clear that this referee should never be licensed to officiate a fight again.
[Jason Hagholm on Twitter, Gianni Vasquez on Instagram] Photo Credit: UFC Fight Pass
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.