Dana White upset with Mazzagatti's stoppages at UFC 92
by Scott Haber on Dec 28, 2008 4:34 PM EST
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PrintIn Dave Meltzer's UFC 92 recap on Yahoo Sports, he reports that Dana White was upset with Steve Mazzagatti over the amount of punishment that Mustapha Al-Turk and Forrest Griffin received in their bouts against Cheick Kongo and Rashad Evans, before Mazzagatti stopped the fights.
UFC president Dana White was upset after the match as Mazzagatti, saying he thought the stoppage was late, but was more upset over an earlier stoppage in which Cheick Kongo was bludgeoning Mostapha Al-Turk.
“He’s a nice guy, but he’s not a referee,” said White.
I'm not quite sure if I agree with Dana here. Kongo was brutalizing Al-Turk for sure, but Al-Turk was attempting to defend himself until the end. Although Al-Turk was in a world of hurt, I think that had more to do with the viciousness of Kongo's ground and pound, and not the fact that Mazzagatti waited too long to stop it.
As far as Griffin/Evans, it's still unclear whether Forrest tapped out, or if his arm was simply "flailing" as he described it. However, to Mazzagatti's credit, Griffin too looked like he was actively defending himself until the last few punches that knocked him silly.
Many have knocked Mazzagatti in the past for waiting too long to step in, but I believe it's a grossly inaccurate statement for White to imply that he's not a competent referee. In my humble opinion, I've seen many more fights with Mario Yamasaki as ref that had stoppages that I perceived to be "late" than I have with Mazzagatti.
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Refs aren’t superhuman (except Big Jon, but that will change when he starts reffing again and people second guess him too). They do their best, and those guys do a hell of a job. This may have more to do with Dana’s posterboy not liking Mazzagatti than anything Mazzagatti has done.
I agree
with Dana White for once. What exactly was Mazzagati waiting for in the Kongo fight for Al-Turk to reverse position or get up while he’s laid out eating punches and getting tore up with elbows. He was not Intelligently defending himself. Between this fight the Lesnar point deduction against Mir and his horrible job in the Cyborg/Baszler fight. I’d be happy if I don’t see Mazzagati again.
I’m not agreeing or disagreeing.
however, I think we need to realize that the refs have a different perspective, than we do or even Dana does. In retrospect, a call may be bad or good, but at the time they think they are doing the right thing. You just have to consider each ref sees things a little differently and there is a lot of human error in these situations.
Unfortunately, fighter safety is involved and that is why I prefer to see these guys err on that side, even if we have to bitch about fights getting stopped early.
Eliot Marshall: Bader won. Like I said in the episode, I'm not going to make any excuses. It's my job to be able to deal with when somebody's doing that. It's not his job to change up his tactics.
http://eliotmarshall.com/
I don’t really care why Maz gets fired – more that he gets fired. The most inconsistent ref in MMA.
by Derek Suboticki on Dec 29, 2008 3:11 AM EST reply actions
Doesn`t Mazzagatti mean something like “Cat-strangler”?
"They called him the axe-murderer because he was murdering chumps. They should have been calling him the chump-murderer..." Rampage Jackson (commentating on the fighting abilities of Wanderlei "F#ck Chuck" Silva.)
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 29, 2008 6:21 AM EST up reply actions
Speaking of refs… Did anyone see the female ref in Strikeforce? First of all she was butt-ugly (irrelevant, I know), secondly she clearly had no idea whatsoever as to what she was doing in the ring. I imiagine what would have happened in the Silva-Rampage if she had been reffing. Silva would still be in a coma or maybe not breathing anymore.
I want Herb Dean to ref every fight!
"They called him the axe-murderer because he was murdering chumps. They should have been calling him the chump-murderer..." Rampage Jackson (commentating on the fighting abilities of Wanderlei "F#ck Chuck" Silva.)
by BlueberryMuffin on Dec 29, 2008 6:19 AM EST reply actions
Joe Rogan said at the beginning on UFC 92, and I agree, that you can really tell how good the usual refs are (Mazzagatti, Dean, etc) when you go to other areas and see their local refs, and how bad they are.
As I said above, I think Dana is saying it to kiss Lesnar$ ass.
Good point about Lesnar.
"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
I had no problem with his stoppages, I like the “Pride’esque” stoppages – making sure the fighters are actually finished.
"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
Well I hate to see stoppages like the Werdum-Vera stoppage
"My job is a decision-making job, and as a result, I make a lot of decisions." --George W. Bush, The Decider, Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007
Man, I’m with you on that. I had no problem with Thompson/Kimbo NOT being stopped in a similar instance. I hate when guys like Hughes get position then just swing lightly but quickly to set up a stoppage. HOWEVER, I would rather see a bad stoppage like Werdum/Vera, than see a fighter sustain long-term damage.
Eliot Marshall: Bader won. Like I said in the episode, I'm not going to make any excuses. It's my job to be able to deal with when somebody's doing that. It's not his job to change up his tactics.
http://eliotmarshall.com/
Dana is right on this one. The stoppage came way to late.
by Scandinavian Lion on Dec 29, 2008 4:03 PM EST reply actions
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