A recent mixed martial arts event in Hot Springs, Arkansas, saw a
rare altercation between a referee and a fighter.
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Robert
Gidron took on Chauncey
Foxworth in the
Real Deal Championships 10 main event at Hot Springs Convention
Center on Jan 20. Midway through Round 2 Gidron blatantly grabbed
the cage to defend a takedown, leading to an intervention by
referee Jon Munz. However, unlike the norm, Munz didn’t just
intervene verbally but proceeded to put his forearm on Gidron’s
throat. Gidron told MMA Junkie about the incident:
“I didn’t mean to grab the cage,” Gidron told MMAJunkie. “You can see in the
video: When I went to grab the cage, as soon as I grabbed the cage
and stood up, as he’s running toward me, I’m throwing my hands up.
That tells you I already did wrong. I messed up. Most refs when
they grab you, they say, ‘Stop, stop, stop.’
“He ran and put his forearm in my throat. Me, I’m already in fight
mode. What I did, I’m not saying I was wrong, and I’m not saying I
was right, but I pushed him off me. He’s a big guy. All his weight
was on my throat. … I felt that I pushed [him] off me. Maybe I
could’ve done a lot better, but I didn’t feel like I did anything
wrong. I’m not choking him. I’m removing him the best way I
can.”
Munz, who has been a regular in Arkansas MMA circles in different
capacities, also allegedly let Caleb
McCauley absorb several unanswered strikes from Phillip
Roberts in another bout on the same card. While the Arkansas
State Athletic Commission is yet to come to a final decision,
Munz’s license has temporarily been suspended and could be extended
to a lifetime ban.
Meanwhile, Gidron was initially disqualified and then called back
to continue the fight with a different referee, jumping straight
into Round 3, and skipping the incomplete second round. Gidron went
on to drop a decision, which he has since appealed to be overturned
to a no-contest to the ASAC.
“They disqualified me. After that, it just went crazy,” said
Gidron. “They went in there. I don’t know if they thought I was
going to go at him or what that was. Any fighter that goes through
that, it just throws you off. It throws you completely off your
game plan. It throws you completely off everything.
“They took both of the tapes off my gloves. I’m already knowing I
messed up. Next thing, they’re like, ‘No, the fight is going to
happen.’ A couple minutes later, they said the fight was going to
happen. So they had to come in, re-tape me up, and I’m like, ‘I
don’t understand.’
“They didn’t even have us finish that round out. They just jumped
right to the third round.”
As per local outlet KATV, Munz is required to take anger management
and referee refresher courses in order to reapply for his license.
Gidron accepts part of the blame for what went down and doesn’t
want Munz to lose his job.
“I don’t believe no one should lose their job. At the end of the
day, we’re all in this for the fun. If you’re not having fun with
this, you’re in the wrong sport. I don’t feel like no one should
lose their job. I don’t want no one to lose their job. I don’t know
if you’ve seen recently, but we’ve seen a lot of these refs not
being held accountable for their mistakes. I think a suspension or
something like that [would be appropriate], but I don’t want to see
nobody lose their job, man. At the end of the day, he might just
need to go through training. He might need to go through something
to help him better do his job. But I don’t think no one should lose
their job… I don’t wish no bad on nobody. At the end of the day, it
was just the heat of the moment. We’re just two grown men. It was
the heat of the moment and got out of control. We’re men. We shake
hands and go on with our lives. I say we both made mistakes. I’m
not just pointing fingers on him or fingers at me. We both made a
mistake, but he shouldn’t lose his job, though.”