Kim Couture vs. Sheila Bird Referee Not Disciplined By Calgary Commission

failhorn etc

How that ref did not get severe discipline is beyond me. The ref obviously was completely unaware of what was completely obvious to even a casual fan of MMA, that Kim was unconscious for like 10 seconds before the ref stopped the fight. Crazy.

Wow. Haven’t seen that photo of Kim before. The fight video sure didn’t have that, probably because the ring was stormed after the ref finally called the fight, ten seconds too late>

Wow, that whole situation was fucked up. I really don’t know how the referee should be punished. I guess ‘sometimes these things happen in MMA.’

“Wow she died? Not the referee’s fault. In 40 years he had no deaths during fights he refereed” A bunch of idiot politicians.

Neither fighter’s camp complained and Kim herself swears she’s fine so rather than admit they dodged a bullet the commission will just pretend that everything was under control. They’d rather be seen as too lax than too twitchy on referee stoppages, I guess.

“Hey promoters, come to Calgary! We’ll let your fighters get choked into oblivion live on tee-vee!” That will put butts in the seats.

What is even more sad is that I have spoken to self professed MMA fans here in Calgary and there seems to be a major lack of care or understanding, just shoulder shrugs and blank looks. Makes me ashamed to say I live in Calgary, even though the city itself is amazing.

It looks like a beaten, dead person after filming a snuff movie. It gives me goosebumps and makes me sick to my stomach. I really give a f if the Couture thinks the refree did her no wrong. Ignorance is no excuse.

For the record.

Logic fail. I feel like sending these morons a polite mail explaining how dumb their excuse is.

That’s horrifying.

but she should not be fighting, at least not at the level she is.

I know she has heart and is tough, but is this really what we want representing MMA? I understand she is making money and honestly, I think we all know she is making it off of her name. At some point the commissions or somebody needs to step in and say that a person isn’t qualified. Damn, I would like to be a pro football player, but I would literally get killed out there.

Seeing this just makes me sick. And I don’t mean getting choked out or even beaten up, but the obvious lack of skill and athleticism it tales to be a pro fighter.

So, when you see this you have to wonder: If and when the first fighter dies or is left a vegetable from injuries in a fight, how soon afterward do state legislatures start pulling the plug on MMA? In a sport where chokes are a common means of submitting a fighter, the chances are it could happen eventually, even if not in a major televised event. The risk is higher when you have a ref who’s not particularly competent that night. It wouldn’t take much effort for anti-MMA legislators to dig up countless photos and video of blood-drenched fighters, huge hematomas, multiple punches to the head of a knocked out fighter, etc., if they wanted support for a claim that this is “human cockfighting.”

Weak move, Calgary.

and I’ve actually had conversations with the leadership of the commission in question. First I’ll say that despite being a religious MMA fan with a history training I was not picked up for judging. The commission always treated me very well, it just didn’t work out at the time. I wanted to get that out of the way just to make sure my potential bias was understood.

The CCSC (Calgary Combative Sports Commission) is a small group of people that provide supervision to many kick boxing and MMA events in the city. Calgary has active promoters and gyms in the city that often get mid to high level fighters from all over the world as well as a very active amature level circuit. Thankfully, the CCSC endorses the unified rules (some Canadian commissions don’t) and they run official’s training courses roughly once a year.

With that said, the group meets once and month and often doesn’t progress issues very quickly. I read the meeting minutes to try and get a feel for how they work and it seems to me like they’re basically scrambling to keep up with the license requests and getting people to events and the big picture stuff tends to get pushed off the table.

In my opinion two things need to happen at the CSCC. First, they need more staff so that important things don’t get pushed off the table. Second, missing the Couture’s suspension and not taking any action against this ref are both bush league moves. It’s time to shake things up and get the CSCC acting more professionally. A change in leadership would be the best way to make this happen.

To potentially not be aware of what is going on in the ring is pretty amateur!

Also, they need to do their homework before the fight and they need to know what each fighters weaknesses and strengths are. They should watch all available tape on both fighters. In short, they should be equally, if not more prepared than the fighters themselves.

After the fight Sheila Bird said that her training partners refer to that move as a “Bird choke”, because she is so proficient with it. The referee needs to know that. I don’t care how he comes upon this information, whether he asks the fighter or trainer or simply watches footage, but he needs to know.

He also should have known that Kim Couture has had a number of poor performances in her fighting career while at the same time showing an incredible degree of heart, at least for someone whose fighting skills are not world class. She is a classic example of someone who may not tap out to a choke hold.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but if he had known these things he would have been all over that submission like a fat kid on a smartie, and this whole thing could have been avoided.

Very frustrating indeed.

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2011/5/17/2176089/ontario-commission-reply-re-ufc-129-raises-more-questions-than-answers