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Missed Fists | ‘What the hell was this ref thinking?’: Pros react to referee freezing during brutal knockout beatdown

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Missed Fists | ‘What the hell was this ref thinking?’: Pros react to referee freezing during brutal knockout beatdown

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there's an MMA show every other day.

Herb Dean has justifiably been taking a lot of guff lately, to the point that we've all wondered several times over the past few years why he's still officiating fights, much less important fights for major promotions.

Well, it could be because the alternatives are grim.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Byron Wilson vs. Skyler King

Admittedly, you've got to dig deep to find a referee worse than Hokey Pokey Herb (h/t Mike Heck). Our search takes us to the great state of Georgia, where referee Nate Mann might have actually dissociated during the main event of National Fighting Championship 191.

Byron Wilson was absolutely wailing on Skyler King, so Mann could have stepped in at any moment during that onslaught; instead, he barely moved even after Wilson walked off assuming the fight was over since King was hardly defending himself. Of course, fighters shouldn't waive off their own fights, but I'm not going to blame Wilson for not wanting to do any more unnecessary damage.

After the most awkward of pauses, Wilson went right back in and clobbered King with a hard punch (OK, maybe he wanted to do a little more unnecessary damage), which finally snapped Mann back to reality as he moved to stop the fight.

Making this scene even worse, Wilson and King are essentially amateurs, with Wilson fighting for just the second time as a pro and King making his debut. You've got to protect these guys, come on, Mann.

I'm not alone in this as several pros reacted to the clip in the comments.

Chris Weidman: What the hell was this ref thinking?

Jason Miller: NPC REFEREE

Eryk Anders: Ref trippin

Shane Burgos: Refs need to be held accountable for shit like this

King himself even jumped into the comments to question the referee's judgment:

As the guy who took the shot: not really sure how the ref didn't realize I wasn't fighting back when the opponent walked away. I assumed the fight was over because otherwise why would the shots stop?? There was more than enough time to tell that I wasn't getting back into the action

Turpal Khamzayev vs. Angelo Pettis
Miguel Sanson vs. Mefi Monterroso
Josue Sotero vs. Ronnie Gibbs

As plenty of athletes will tell you, it's hard carrying a famous name, and that's just as true in combat sports.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's Angelo Pettis.

Being the cousin of MMA champions Anthony and Sergio is always going to bring plenty of expectations, especially when you consider how they both excelled at a young age, and it's been a tough go for the 21-year-old Angelo so far. In his second pro fight, he was submitted by Gage Mitchell, and this past Sunday he suffered his first knockout loss after taking some brutal kicks from Turpal Khamzayev.

That's a fantastic finish by Khamzayev, who chopped Angelo down before ending it with a flashy spinning wheel kick that the Pettis family should appreciate.

Fortunately for Angelo, he might not have been the worst knockout victim of the night, as Miguel Sanson caught Mefi Monterroso with a savage knee with Monterroso trying to stand up from the mat.

Josue Sotero topped both of those efforts, needing just 22 seconds to put Ronnie Gibbs away with a slick heel hook.

The 24-year-old Sotero improved to 5-0, with three of his wins coming in under a minute.

Anthony Pettis FC 24 is available to stream on UFC Fight Pass.

Damien Deleon vs. Terrell Nixon
Jeremiah Delgado vs. Vincenzo Iannuzzo
Jarrod St. Jean vs. Alius Delarosa

We have a few more Fight Pass goodies, starting with Damien Deleon scoring a ridiculous 11-second head kick knockout over Terrell Nixon on the Fury FC postliminary fights.

Over at CFFC 159, Jeremiah Delgado landed an even better head kick knockout against Vincenzo Iannuzzo.

Started celebrating before Iannuzzo's body even hit the canvas.

Jarrod St. Jean might have a future as a psychic because he perfectly slipped a short hook from Alius Delarosa while simultaneously landing a counter on the money.

Tater McSpadden vs. Fred Freeman

If St. Jean is psychic, Tater McSpadden might be a magician because he showed some serious sleight of hand (er, knee) at an Xtreme Fight Night event in Tulsa, Okla.

Had to watch that one multiple times to see where he slipped in the knee, but it's there, and it was more than enough to stun Fred Freeman and leave him open to some fight-ending hellbows.

Lucas Alfaro vs. Francisco Pepa

At Concordia Fight Night 8 in Argentina, Lucas Alfaro sent Francisco Pepa on a one-way trip to Buenos Aires with a limb-lifting spin kick.

Dude flew, like, two-thirds of the cage on that one.

Marsel Nurlanbek vs. Ermek Nuranov

Let's end on a nightmarish note.

I've often wondered what it would look like if someone didn't tap to a Suloev stretch fast enough and thanks to Octagon League's Marsel Nurlanbek, I have my answer.

Wish I hadn't found out. But I did and now you have, too.

Octagon League 90 is available for free replay on YouTube.

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on X — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.

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Carlos Prates issues warning to Michael Morales: ‘I will knock you out really fast’ after winning UFC title

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Carlos Prates issues warning to Michael Morales: ‘I will knock you out really fast’ after winning UFC title

Carlos Prates wants to be next in line against UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, and he's open to defending the title immediately after against undefeated 170-pound contender Michael Morales.

Makhachev said in the aftermath of his UFC 330 title defense over Ian Machado Garry, which went down this past weekend in Philadelphia, that maybe Prates and Morales should face off to determine the rightful contender.

The knockout artist has a different idea in mind, though. Speaking with Champions Collection, Prates was told that Morales said he was afraid to fight him.

“If the guy has two arms, two legs, one dick like me, bro, I can fight him,†Prates said. “He said I'm scared about him? I'm not scared to fight you. I'm No. 1 contender, so I wanna fight for the belt. UFC never offered the fight against you. If they offer me, of course I would knock you out really fast. First round, so don't worry. You're gonna fight and I'm gonna knock you out.â€

“But now wait, [I'll] get my belt and then we can fight. I'm never scared to fight you, bro. Don't worry.â€

Prates claimed that Morales replied to the video he sent him, saying he was “ready to fight†him. The Brazilian then issued him a final message in Spanish.

“After I get my belt, I'll knock you out,†Prates said.

Prates won three straight in the UFC with knockouts over Geoff Neal, Leon Edwards and Jack Della Maddalena to maintain his 100 percent bonus rate in the company, while Morales won seven in a row under the UFC banner with his most recent ones being stoppages against Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady.

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‘What the f*ck are we doing?’: Reinier de Ridder says something has to be done about extreme weight cutting in MMA

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‘What the f*ck are we doing?’: Reinier de Ridder says something has to be done about extreme weight cutting in MMA

Reinier de Ridder isn't blaming anybody but himself for shortcomings in his past two losses.

After a blazing fast start to his UFC career with four straight wins including victories over former champion Robert Whittaker and Bo Nickal, de Ridder just kept the momentum going by booking his fourth fight in 2025 but that backfired spectacularly. He ended up falling to Brendan Allen after his body effectively shut down and his corner was forced to stop the fight.

While not the same outcome, de Ridder also felt fairly lifeless in his next fight when he lost to Caio Borralho before finally making the decision to move from middleweight to light heavyweight with his 205-pound debut booked on Saturday against Roman Dolidze at UFC Sacramento.

“The last couple of fights, every time I was doing a weight cut, I said this has to be the last one,†de Ridder told MMA Fighting. “Because it was just rough every time and not only the weight cut, not just during fight week but also in training camp, it was so hard to recover between sessions. Because I had to limit my calories so extremely. It just took so much out of me. It's time to move up.

“I think a weight cut like that, an extreme weight cut, like all the top guys at middleweight do is all right to do it like twice a year, max. If you fight once or twice a year you'll be all right. I did like six in a little over a year and it just f*cks everything up. It f*cks your body up. It f*cks your hormone levels up. Everything goes to shit.â€

Making the middleweight limit that many times took a toll on de Ridder but he knows it was his choice to accept all of offers so he can't get upset that things just didn't go his way.

“It was all those amazing opportunities,†de Ridder said. “They had a cool opponent ‘you want to fight this guy?' Yes, of course! It is what it is. It led me to finally going to 205 and it seems like most of middleweights are following me to 205 so we'll have the same matchups anyways.â€

As he embarked on his official move up to light heavyweight, de Ridder has noticed huge differences in his health, his training camp and the way he feels leading up his next fight. While not of that is shocking to him, the Dutch veteran realized just how much extreme weight cutting was hurting him more than helping him while competing at middleweight.

That's why long term, de Ridder believes something has to be done about the extreme weight cuts that almost every fighter endures to maintain a size advantage over an opponent. While he admits he doesn't have a perfect solution, he knows something has to change or somebody is really going to pay — perhaps even with their life.

“Mentally, [making weight] comes first and then the fight is second, which is so wrong,†de Ridder said. “It's time to figure this weight cut stuff out anyways. Everybody makes 185. Everybody's at least 210 when they fight, maybe 215. What the f*ck are we doing? I weigh in at 185, my opponent weighs in at 185, both of us weigh in at 210 when we fight. Like why are we doing this shit?

“The way the system is right now you have to [cut weight]. Because otherwise, you're fighting somebody who is 25 pounds heavier than you and that's too much. I don't mind fighting guys who are five or 10 pounds heavier, that's normal. If I'm fighting guys who are killers and who are as good as we are that's 25 pounds heavier, that's a problem.â€

Now that he's officially a light heavyweight, de Ridder completely shuts the door on ever going back to 185 by emphatically stating “I'll say never … never a middleweight again.â€

He hopes to find the same kind of success in his new weight class as he did when first arriving in the UFC and it all starts with his fight against Dolidze on Saturday.

“There's a lot of cool matchups,†de Ridder said. “If I do well and I can put him away, I think I have a chance of fighting one of the top 10 guys. It's basically all pretty cool matchups. I think it's going to be very cool. There's a lot of opportunities at 205 so let's get to it.â€

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UFC welterweight contender believes Shavkat Rakhmonov won't fight again after injuries

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UFC welterweight contender believes Shavkat Rakhmonov won't fight again after injuries

The MMA career of Shavkat Rakhmonov could be over, according to welterweight contender Sean Brady.

Rakhmonov hasn't fought since December 2024, when he beat Ian Machado Garry by decision. In the fight, he re-injured his knee, which resulted in knee surgery. Since then, Rakhmonov hasn't fought, and Sean Brady believes he's done and won't fight again.

“(Carlos) Prates is going to fight Islam and then you have (Michael) Morales fight Shavkat, and the winner of that fights for the belt next,†Brady said to Daniel Cormier. “He's hitting pads and stuff. He's saying he's coming back. I don't think he's ever going to fight again. I think he's done because every time he tries to come back, his knee just keeps going out. He's not going to be able to make it through a camp. I've never had knee problems, but when you see guys with knee problems, it's just over and over and over again – especially with him. The camp is the hardest part.â€

If Rakhmonov doesn't fight again, it would be one of the biggest what-ifs in recent MMA history. He was a perfect 19-0 and had wins over the likes of Garry, Stephen Thompson, Geoff Neal, and Neil Magny, among others. He was on the cusp of a title shot, but injuries have derailed his career and could end it, according to Brady.

Rakhmonov's coach, however, did recently post some training footage of him in the gym striking. So, perhaps he can return soon, which would add another threat to the welterweight division. However, Brady doubts that will happen.

As for Sean Brady, he's set to headline UFC Vegas 124 against Gabriel Bonfim on November 7 at the Apex. Brady is coming off a decision win over Joaquin Buckley to return to the win column.

Do you think Shavkat Rakhmonov will fight again?

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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