The MMA fighter who fell victim to a referee stopping his fight too late has revealed the extent of his avoidable injuries.
Gianni Vazquez was choked unconscious in a bout with Edgar Chairez at Fury FC 76 in San Antonio.
However, whether it be due to referee incompetence or simply missing the fact that one of the fighters was out cold, the fight continued.
Advert
Chairez, as any fighter would do, switched the triangle choke into an armbar after believing that Vazquez wasn’t tapping out to the initial hold.
That was only after the Mexican fighter had been in the hold for a prolonged period of time.
After eventually switching to target the arm, the hold awoke Vazquez who quickly tapped out - finally ending the fight way after it should’ve been stopped by referee Frank Collazo.
Advert
The clip of the exchange went viral online with many in the MMA community furious at Collazo.
And now Vazquez has taken to social media to reveal the extent of his injuries while also putting the referee on blast.
He wrote: “Kill or be killed…
“This is the fight game and is not a game. I say if you want to beat me you better gotta put me out cause if not is going to be a long night.
Advert
“I make a mistake and it cost me the fight that I feel I was winning. My opponent took advantage of that and with some stupid referee that didn’t stop the fight when I was out now I have to deal with a potential fracture on my arm and some ligaments damaged too.
“Sorry to all of you guys who support me and believe in me for not bringing the victory, sorry to my coaches for making a mistake that I’m the only one who is responsible for, sorry to all the fans for not giving you guys a better show.
“We came to fight till the end, I did.”
The officiating mishap understandably garnered a whole lot of attention across the MMA world.
Advert
Even UFC president Dana White was asked about the incident during the post-fight news conference on ESPN.
He said: “That’s the kind of stuff that I really, really don’t like, if a guy gets choked unconscious and you don’t know he’s unconscious.
“Everybody has a bad night. Everybody makes mistakes. But if a guy gets choked unconscious and then they pull him into an armbar, I mean, it doesn’t get any worse than that.
“(Josh Burkman vs. Jon Fitch) was the one I went after [Referee Steve] Mazzagatti so bad about… Mazzagatti had no clue. You shouldn’t be reffing if that happens, in my opinion.”
Topics: MMA
Jayden Collins