UFC has pulled referee Vyacheslav Kiselev
from his other
#UFC267 assignments due to his performance during the Zaleski
dos Santos-Saint Denis fight. pic.twitter.com/lt04N8b6ax— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
October 30, 2021
Vyacheslav
Kiselev was originally scheduled to referee two bouts at
UFC 267, but his negligence in his first assignment resulted in
a shorter-than-expected night.
Kiselev was the third man in the cage for the preliminary
welterweight bout between Elizeu
Zaleski dos Santos and Benoit St.
Denis. During a brutally lopsided second round, it appeared
that St. Denis was out on his feet, and the UFC commentary team was
in utter disbelief as Kiselev allowed the the Octagon newcomer to
continue. Later, St. Denis informed Kiselev that he couldn’t see
after an eye poke, but the referee restarted the bout without
calling in a cageside physician to examine the Frenchman.
To his credit, St. Denis continued to fight back and ultimately
made it to the final horn. That, however, did not clear Kiselev of
responsibility for his earlier transgressions. As a result, Kiselev
was pulled from his second officiating assignment, a light
heavyweight clash between Magomed
Ankalaev and Volkan
Oezdemir. News of Kiselev’s removal was announced by Jon Anik
during the UFC 267 broadcast. Marc Goddard ultimately picked up the
refereeing duties for the Ankalaev-Oezdemir bout.
“Honestly, the worst performance I have seen from a referee in my
life,” wrote Daniel
Cormier, who was part of the broadcast team, via Twitter.
“Honestly a hard job but man unreal. Makes you respect the good
ones like [Jason Herzog, John McCarthy, Herb Dean] and many more. I
hated watching that. I hope Benoit is heading to [the] hospital
right now!”
Honestly the worst performance I have seen
from a referee in my life. Honestly a hard job but man unreal.
Makes you respect the good ones like @JasonHerzogMMA
@JohnMcCarthyMMA
@HerbDeanMMA
and many more. I hated watching that I hope Benoit is heading to
hospital right now !— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma)
October 30, 2021
In addition to not stopping the bout when St. Denis was taking a
potentially dangerous amount of punishment or after he admitted he
couldn’t see out of one eye, Kiselev also deducted a point from dos
Santos for landing a low blow in Round 3 without giving an initial
warning.
“Holy hell…I just watched the worst job of officiating at a [UFC]
event ever,” wrote veteran official John McCarthy on Twitter.
“Please just don’t let him do another fight….ever.”
Holy Hell, @marcgoddard_uk
@MarcRatnerUFC
I just watched the worst job of officiating at an @UFC event
ever!!! Please just don’t let him do another fight….. EVER!!!— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA)
October 30, 2021
#UFC267 pic.twitter.com/fqa7c1LYnW— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman)
October 30, 2021