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Updated October 31st, 2021 at 18:39 IST

UFC 267: Fighters react to referee's removal after failing to stop brutal beating in fight

Referee Vyacheslav Kiselev has been removed from UFC 267 after his decision to not stop the fight in Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs Benoit Saint-Denis.

Reported by: Prithvi Virmani
UFC 267
Image: @UFC/Twitter | Image:self
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Referee Vyacheslav Kiselev has been removed from UFC 267 after his decision to not stop the fight in Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos's unanimous decision victory over Benoit Saint-Denis on Saturday. Saint-Denis is a newcomer and was out of his depth as Dos Santos handed him a brutal beatdown. The Brazilian managed to hit 149 strikes to 67, including 96 major blows on Saint-Denis' head.

While the newcomer showed his resistance to hold on till the end of the bout, UFC 267 commentators and even the fans could be heard asking for the bout to be stopped in the second round. Dos Santos won the fight by a comfortable margin of 29-26 on all three judges' scorecards however, many were shocked by the fact that Vyacheslav Kiselev let the fight go on for so long.

UFC Fighters react to the refereeing incident

Commentators Daniel Cormier and Paul Felder at one point were heard shouting on the broadcast for the fight to be stopped. "Stop the fight," they yelled. "I don't know what he needs to see... this is crazy," Cormier added. "Honestly the worst performance I have seen from a referee in my life," 

Cormier wrote on social media against such refereeing. "Honestly a hard job but man unreal. Makes you respect the good ones like Jason Herzog, John McCarthy,  Herb Dean and many more. I hated watching that I hope Benoit is heading to the hospital right now." John McCarthy wrote: "Holy Hell, I just watched the worst job of officiating at an UFC event ever! Please just don't let him do another fight.... EVER!!!"

Michael Chiesa took to Twitter to highlight a referee's most important role. He said, "The most important role of an MMA referee is to protect the fighter. This referee is going a terrible job of that, in more ways than one."

Welterweight professional Randy Brown not only slammed the referee but also the negative stigma around conceding in UFC.  "Besides this ref being trash as hell," he posted. "When are we going to have the conversation about the negative stigma MMA has about throwing in the towel?"

Former Shooto Middleweight Champion Siyar Bahadurzada slammed the referee and called him a danger to fighters. He also said that he is glad that Saint-Denis did not die. "Glad Sahn Deni (Benoit Saint-Denis) didn't die in this fight. The referee needs to be banned from any octagon/ring/or mat. He's a danger to athletes. Serious danger," wrote Bahadurzada.

There is a history of UFC removing officials for incompetence in the middle of an event. UFC president Dana White famously removed a judge from a UFC Fight Night event in 2014 in Macau, China, after the judge turned in two odd scorecards. UFC later said White broke protocol in that incident, as that move has to come from internal regulators. Kiselev was scheduled to oversee a light heavyweight bout between Volkan Oezdemir and Magomed Ankalaev later in the evening.

(Image: UFC)

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Published October 31st, 2021 at 18:39 IST

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