Ridiculous scene at Fury FC. Edgar Cháirez
puts Gianni Vazquez to sleep with a triangle, and the ref simply
doesn’t stop it. Cháirez ends up armbarring an unconscious Vazquez
who wakes up in the submission.
#Furyfc76 pic.twitter.com/AgcwI2i3ss— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman)
March 25, 2023
Fury Fighting Championship 76 played host to a potentially
scary scene on Friday night.
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In the evening’s main event, Edgar
Chairez defeated Gianni
Di Chiara Vazquez via armbar at the 2:04 mark of the fourth
round in their flyweight bout in San Antonio, Texas. However, the
fight should have ended earlier, as it appeared Vazquez was
rendered unconscious by a triangle choke before waking up to tap
out to the armbar.
While the event’s broadcast team recognized that Vazquez was out
and frantically called for the stoppage, referee Frank Collazo
allowed the bout to continue long after the initial choke had been
applied. On a positive note, Vazquez appeared to be coherent when
the result was announced in the cage shortly thereafter. The Texas
Department of Licensing and Regulation, which oversaw Fury FC 76,
has since released a statement on the bout.
“TDLR is aware of concerns about the officiating in one of last
night’s fights,” the statement read. “All TDLR officials receive
ongoing training and we monitor each fight for consistency in
officiating.
“Fight officials for each competition are always selected in
conjunction with promoters.”
Meanwhile, Fury FC officials also released a
statement on the promotion’s Facebook page criticizing the
referee’s awareness in the bout.
“It is the referee’s job to protect the fighter when the fighter
cannot protect him or herself. In last night’s main event, the
referee failed to do this,” the promotion stated. “While the job of
a referee is one of the hardest to do in this 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.”
According to the Sherdog.com database, Collazo has officiated 129
MMA bouts dating back to 2014.