Brazilian Athletic commission ‘can’t change the result’ of Drew Dober vs. Leandro Silva

After featuring one of the most bizarre referee mistakes in recent memory, the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission (CABMMA) head revealed that their hands are tied with regards to overturning the decision for Drew Dober.

The incident in question took place at the UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. LaFlare event in Rio de Janeiro, where Dober was handed a submission loss on his record even though he clearly had not tapped to the guillotine choke attempt. His opponent Leandro Silva's guillotine attempt was from half guard, which made it an even less threatening submission hold.

Even though the commission COO, Cristiano Sampaio, noticed a legitimate error in judgment, it is not enough to overturn the decision to a no-contest according to their specific rule set.

"We can't change the result," Sampaio told Combate (via MMAFighting.com). "There are three cases where the result can be changed: when the scorecards indicate a different result; when there's collusion between judges, when they decide who's going to win, something that happens outside (of Brazil) with betting; and when the failure in the interpretation of the referee that generates a different result than was to have been.

"That was an error of fact," he continued. "The error of the rule is when there is a failure in the interpretation of the law. We have to review the fight, the referee's position, which body signals the athlete had, indicating that he passed out or not. Some factors have to be analyzed. But it was not an error of the rule, and had nothing to do with the interpretation of the rule. Today, by the standard of the athletic commission protocol worldwide, there is no way we can change this result. But we have to sit down, discuss and review. Rule is one thing, his performance is another. They are distinct. That's not the case here, so Leandro ‘Buscape's' win will likely be maintained."

MMAFighting.com reached out to Dober following Sampaio's comments. He revealed that he will still file an appeal, if only to bring this situation to the public eye.

"That's unfortunate," Dober said. "I was told last night that the head commissioner couldn't comment on it until I appeal and he gets a chance to review the ‘error/mistake' their referee made. I will still appeal."

Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com.