Yves Lavigne Discusses and Defends Nover-Bradley Stoppage

One of the major stories to come out of last weekend's UFC 98 event was a controversial stoppage by referee Yves Lavigne, in the Phillipe Nover-Kyle Bradley prelim fight. 

This of course, was hot on the heels of a previous controversial stoppage by Lavigne at UFC 96 in March, where he took the role of a pariah on the MMA blogosphere after repeatedly hesitating to stop the Matt Brown-Pete Sell fight, and only finally stepping in after Sell had taken far more punishment than was necessary.  In comments after the March event, Lavigne apologized for the Brown-Sell stoppage, admitting he had failed to act properly, and allowed Sell to "take a beating for nothing.

Now, in his first public comments since the Nover-Bradley fight, Lavigne speaks with Sherdog's Loretta hunt, and takes a much less apologetic stance than he did after the Sell-Brown fight:

"It was the toughest one to call, because you don’t see the face of the guy receiving the punch," Lavigne told Sherdog.com Wednesday. "You have to look with the body, so basically, I based my judgment on Mr. Nover’s reaction. When he went face-first in the mat with his arms behind him, I decided to stop the fight."

"I know it looks bad. I know some people on the Internet said I re-start[ed] that fight," said Lavigne. "I never re-start[ed] that fight. I didn’t want to receive a kick in the face and get knocked out. When the fighter doesn’t really comply, what am I supposed to do? I think the step back was the best way in order to stop the fight."

"I would choose a stronger angle when stopping the fight," said Lavigne, who recalls facing a similar dilemma when is hips were too parallel to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as the referee struggled to pry him off a comatose Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 last December. "I’d also do some weight-training."

Essentially, it appears that Lavigne's argument is that he never truly re-started the fight, and that once he started trying to pull Bradley away, he was dead-set on stopping the fight.  I do agree with this point now, and after reviewing GIFs and video of the fight's ending, it seems clear to me that Lavigne indeed never re-started the fight...he simply thought that Bradley recognized the stoppage once he stopped striking Nover, when in fact Bradley thought the fight was still on, so Lavigne had to wave his arms to officially signal the end.

In regards to Lavigne's comments about needing to do some weight training: sure, Yves isn't one of the larger or more imposing referees in the business (i.e. Big John and Dan Miragaliotta) who could simply tackle or wrestle a fighter away when he wants to ensure a stoppage.  I'm also not aware of Yves having a strong martial arts background, unlike Mario Yamasaki who holds a BJJ black belt, or Herb Dean, who actively trains in MMA and has even fought professionally before.

That all being said, it's troubling to hear an MMA referee discussing his fear of being too physically aggressive with a fighter in the process of stopping a fight.  Unless he's refereeing a Gilbert Yvel fight, I don't think Yves has much to worry about.  Sure, a lot of fighters get caught up in the moment and require the referee to literally yank them off before they stop pounding or squeezing a sub, but I'd suggest that it's far more common for a fighter to stop right away when he realizes the ref is trying to stop the fight.

Yves says that Bradley wasn't complying and he was afraid of being struck or injured, but after looking at the replay of the fight's ending several times, and seeing Yves well-protected behind Bradley with his arms wrapped around the fighter's waist, I'm not so sure of that.  Yes, he could have potentially taken an elbow to the face, but these are accepted risks when you become an pro MMA referee, and if you're nervous about stopping a fight for fear of being struck by the attacking fighter, then perhaps you pursue a different avenue in the world of combat sports officiating.

Finally, in comparing the Nover-Bradley stoppage to the Sell-Brown stoppage, Yves had this to say:

"I don’t think both of them are in the same category," said Lavigne. "One of them, I made a judgment call and the other one, I made a huge mistake, which I acknowledged. [Nover] bounced back quick, yes, however my decision was already made at that point."

I have to agree with him here again.  Was the Nover stoppage a little early?  Perhaps.  But in this case, Yves acted appropriately and in the best interest of the fighter, whereas with Pete Sell he did not.  Does Yves need to learn to be more forceful and clear when he stops a fight?  Yes...but he's aware of this, as his aforemenioned comments suggest, and I have no problem with seeing him officiate major fights in the future, so long as he's willing to improve his aggressiveness. 

Maybe Big John can train him in the art of tackling an over-eager fighter? ;)