Dana White has ripped Chris Tognoni after the referee made a fight altering bad call while officiating a light-heavyweight bout between Ed Herman and Mike Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 10.
Rodriguez landed a clean knee to the stomach of his opponent in round two. Herman dropped to the mat in pain and the fight looked over. In steps Tognoni who called the knee illegal despite the fact replays showed it landed way above the belt.
Herman took all of the allotted time he needed to recover despite the fact there was no foul. The TUF veteran rallied in round three locking up the kimura to score a controversial submission win.
The UFC boss fumed about the incident and put Tognoni on blast for his mistake when talking to media at the UFC Vegas 10 post-fight press conference, he said.
“It’s hard not to bang on this guy. The worst I’ve ever seen. He’s a (expletive) Mazzagatti level. That’s some (Steve) Mazzagatti-level (expletive) right there. That was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. That kid wins by knockout, technical knockout and loses the fight. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”
White believes the use of instant-replay could have easily rectified the mistake but Nevada State Athletic Commission currently only allow a replay after the fight is over – something the UFC president is desperate to change.
“I was all over them tonight about replay,” White said. “We got to have replay. There’s got to be replay. All you’ve got to do is look at the (expletive) replay that’s playing 6,000 times while Herman’s on the ground and say, ‘Oh (expletive), I made a mistake.’ How you think that is a groin kick is next level nuts, but whatever. It happens. What are you going to do it? It happened.”
Rodriguez, who is set to appeal the loss had the blow softened somewhat as White decided to pay him a win bonus despite the fact he didn’t officially get the win.
“We’re giving Mike his money, too,” White said. “He won the (expletive) fight.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
Do you agree with Dana White? Is this the worst mistake a referee has ever made?