The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) is limiting how far
its judges and referees can travel when working consecutive
events.
CSAC executive officer Andy Foster issued a memorandum on Friday
that officials who work in the state can only travel as far as
Nevada — or vice versa — if they are planning on working events on
back-to-back days. Ariel Helwani was first to
report the news. The memorandum is as follows: While the
Commission understands that, as Officials you may also work in
other states. It is imperative that you be at your best for those
assignments and keep in mind the travel distance between locations
when accepting consecutive assignments. If you work in California
on a Friday, the Commission finds it acceptable for you to work as
far as Nevada on Saturday or vice versa. If you accept an out of
state assignment that is within one day of an assignment in
California, you may be removed from the California assignment if
you are being required to travel further than the state of
Nevada.
The rule comes after MMA judge Douglas Crosby worked Bellator 289
in Uncasville, Conn., on Dec. 9 before traveling to Las Vegas to
judge the UFC 282 card one day later. Crosby submitted a pair of
controversial tallies — one at each event — over that weekend. He
scored the Bellator 289 main event between Raufeon
Stots and Danny
Sabatello 50-45 in favor of Sabatello in a bout that Stots won
via split decision. Then, he submitted a 29-28 tally for Paddy
Pimblett in his controversial unanimous decision win against
Jared
Gordon in the UFC 282 main event.
The Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulations is going to
review the Stots-Sabatello fight with Crosby and the other two
judges who scored the bout. Mohegan Athletic Department Director of
Athletics Mike Mazzulli has acknowledged that Crosby’s scorecard
was “controversial” and that Stots winning was the correct
“result.”