UFC referee Yves Lavigne says Koscheck will be eaten alive by GSP, also "scared" to strike with Daley

1 I’ve heard Big John say similar things, granted it was after a fight and not before, but it still puts them in a tighter spot ethically. IMO. Nothing came of it.
2 Everything he said is true.
 So, in all likelihood, nothing will come of it. Viable point though.

You’re simply incorrigible!

for a person to state his opinion? Are we going to pretend referees are robots now?

And he’s not saying anything remotely controversial. This is all common sense stuff.

I rest my case.

i really doubt they would have put a french canadian ref in the main event anyway

you’d think this guy would realize that his legitimacy and therefore his job relies on objectivity. And that he’d keep his face shut.

then this guy talks up gsp……..are you fucking kidding me

I remember when some people acted like John McCarthy saying that he liked to watch Josh Neer compromised his integrity as a referee. Will they raise a fuss when Lavigne continues to ref UFC fights? No.

For what it’s worth. Koscheck did state that he was going to stand with Daley and knock him out. A lot changes once that door closes but deep down we all knew he wasn’t going to stand.

The interviewer was summarzing Lavigne’s remarks? Maybe he was misquoted.

Regardless, although this bias is important, the real issue is Lavigne’s poor performance in the cage. I have nothing against the guy and I kind of even root for him as the best Canadian ref, but it seems like he can’t get in the cage without some incident.

Even the recent Diaz/Davis fight. He says to Davis “protect your eye?” I mean, fair enough, it’s the doctor’s job to stop the fight, but it was weird. Then he took too long to stop Diaz’s choke on Davis when it was clear to me (watching) that he was out.

The fight before, at Vancouver, Lavigne stopped the fight too early (Danzig) I think.

In Montreal, he didn’t stop the Shogun/Machida fight until Shogun stopped punching and looked at him, then he sort of jumped into the action.

None of these incidents are really all that damning on their own. It’s just like every time, there’s something. I wonder if his incredibly poor decision in the Sell fight sort of just broke his nerve and he’s second guessing himself in there.

With these weird comments, if accurate, you have to wonder whether he should be reffing outside of Quebec .

And just to make sure we’re clear – there is no way the Quebec athletic commission will sanction him. He will ref Koscheck/GSP. Count on it. Which is wrong in so many ways, but so typical of Quebec – better to hire a native than the best in his field (which surely is McCarthy, Dean, or possibly even Rosenthal now (after the Lesnar fight)).

I’d disagree with the premise of this article if I could figure out exactly what it was outside of scatterbrained responses to responses of questions. Assuming your premise is the summary you posted here then I really have no clue what you’re getting at. And I’m not sure whether you think this is bad enough to the point that it should be punished. If so, what should the punishment be? If he shouldn’t be punished in your opinion, then what’s the point of your article? To report that Yves Lavigne has an opinion on fighters? If so, then why not report it as “Yves Lavinge shares his opinion on GSP.” This isn’t some Donaghy shit.

À son dernier combat, au Centre Bell justement, il a eu peur de se faire frapper et s’est contenté de tenir son adversaire (le Britannique Paul Daley) au sol, a expliqué l’officiel québécois. Les partisans l’avaient hué et Daley, frustré de son attitude dans le combat, l’avait même frappé après le duel!

For his last fight, at the Centre Bell precisely, he was scared to get hit and was satisfied with holding down his opponent (the Britannic Paul Daley) , explained the Quebecois referee. The fans booed him and Daley, frustrated of his behavior during the fight even hit him after the fight.

The part in bold makes it look like those are the words of the interviewer, but those are Lavigne’s words, I read the whole thing, it just looks ambiguous because of bad punctuation.

I am surprised that he would say such things but perhaps he is moving towards the end of his career and is not as concerned with keeping his thoughts and opinions to himself anymore.

The ending of the Diaz/Davis fight was pretty poor reffing. I watched the fights twice with two different groups of people (most of whom are casual MMA fans) and both times the entire room reacted like this:

“oh damn, he’s out, he’s out, stop it….stop the fight!! he’s out!!, HOLY SH*T MAN STOP IT!!!”

He looked nervous as hell until Davis came back to consciousness. One of the under-reported issues in MMA is ref quality and I’m interested to see where this particular story goes.

Has repeatedly called Fedor the very best fighter, said that nobody can compete with him, and that was before the Fedor – Werdum fight he reffed. His voiced opinion didn’t change that fight, and Yves’s wouldn’t change his reffing of a Kos – GSP match; it more than likely would cause Yves to bend over-backward to show his even-handedness.

" My opinion is that Chael Sonnen is overrated
Doesn’t mean i have bias against him in reporting"

have the objectivity, whether it’s needed or not, that no one else has, despite your own personal bias’s. I don’t believe it.