Midnight Mania! Incompetent referee allows unconscious fighter to stay in chokehold for 90 seconds

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight Welcome to Midnight Mania!
I cover this sport nearly every day, and I see plenty that make me wince or cringe — a particularly gruesome knockout, limbs snapping…

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

I cover this sport nearly every day, and I see plenty that make me wince or cringe — a particularly gruesome knockout, limbs snapping, late stoppages — but this may be the hardest thing to watch I’ve seen yet.

The event was Demolidor Fight MMA 13, and the fight was the main event, Melziquiel Conceição (Melk) vs Rafael Barbosa. Melk was the man unconscious as Barbosa held the choke while the referee looked placidly on as a man nearly died in front of his eyes. The commission proceeded to blame the promotion, and the promotion blame the commission, for hiring the referee.

The fighter, who was taken to the hospital, was reportedly okay afterwards, though he said he couldn’t seem to breathe correctly.

Big John also weighed in, and had a similar reaction.

Every referee makes gaffes- John McCarthy himself was infamously kicked by Roy Nelson after a late stoppage of his opponent- but this one was utterly beyond the pale.

Hopefully that referee will never ever oversee two men in combat ever again. He deserves to be decked for that gross negligence, like this referee was.


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Stay woke, Maniacs! Follow me on Twitter and Facebook @Vorpality. Support my Kickstarter