There’s no getting around it, MMA has some problems when it comes to officiating. I’m not just talking about suspect decisions. I’m talking about baffling interpretations of the rules inside the cage, including but not limited to bizarre stand-ups like the one that may or may not have cost former WWE star Bobby Lashley a win against Chad Griggs at Strikeforce: Houston last weekend.
In case you somehow missed it, referee Jon Schorle (who has a bit of a history of flubbing calls) opted to stand Lashley up out of the full mount in the second round. At first it seemed as though he was doing so to check the cut under Lashley’s eye, but MMA Fighting has confirmed that Schorle actually brought the fighters to the feet because he felt Lashley wasn’t active enough from the top position.
I’ll pause a moment so you can take that in. Lashley had achieved full mount, one of the most dominant positions you can have, but he lost it when the referee decided that his occasional bursts of offense weren’t enough to allow him to maintain the position he had earned.
Should that ever happen in an MMA fight? Absolutely not, according to the sport’s most experienced referee, “Big” John McCarthy.
After a return to the UFC octagon officiating three bouts during the