Referee Jason Herzog had to reply for his bizarre performance at UFC Abu Dhabi after allowing a record-breaking beating go on for for much longer than needed.
Steven Nguyen scored a shocking six official knockdowns, and two more that weren’t officially marked, on Mohammad Yahya during a UFC Abu Dhabi prelim bout. Nevertheless, Herzog refused to stop the fight, and needed a health care provider to call it off between rounds because of massive swelling on Yahya’s eye.
Viewers were disgusted by the referee’s refusal to call a stop to the competition, with many calling for him to be fired from his long-time role. And while that isn’t prone to occur, he did should answer to Andy Foster from the California State Athletic Commission, who wasn’t even sanctioning the bout.
UFC Abu Dhabi referee had to reply to top commission boss
Jason Herzog’s performance during that UFC Abu Dhabi fight was so concerning that California State Athletic Commission boss Andy Foster reached out to debate it with him. The pair talked it out, and Herzog is predicted to proceed refereeing at the highest level across jurisdictions.
“Jason Herzog is among the best referees on this planet so it’s somewhat little bit of a difficult conversation,” Foster told Ariel Helwani on his show Tuesday. “Look, I actually have to have those sorts of conversations with anybody even when it’s Jason Herzog or whoever.
“The hope is he can learn from this and never let it occur again. I understand it’s rough on Jason without delay but hopefully every referee within the country and the world will learn from this and never let this occur, I believe six knockdowns is somewhat bit greater than [necessary].
“Obviously it’s the standard of the knockdown and whatever, but in the event you discuss boxing, we do 10-6 [scorecards] however it doesn’t work out that always. They’re somewhat bit different sports and more knockdowns occur but 4, five and 6 were pretty significant knockdowns and I might argue that with anyone.
“I believe that [Herzog] has checked out the fight and he understands moving forward what he has to do. I actually have total confidence in Jason Herzog moving forward, he’s on an upcoming fight in California and I believe any time you do that many fights, you’ll be able to make mistakes infrequently.
“I actually have total confidence in him and we’re going to proceed to utilize him. I don’t imagine Jason will make this error in the long run and I don’t think other referees will make this error in future.”
Fans wanted UFC Abu Dhabi referee fired after his performance
There was outrage on social media after the fight, particularly when images emerged of Yahya’s face which was luckily just swelling and never serious damage to his orbital bone. Fans wanted Herzog to be cut from refereeing altogether, which now seems unlikely.
“The referee needs to be held accountable for this, he must have stopped the fight in round one,” one fan wrote on X. “Get Jason Herzog out of the game. He’s clueless. Went from one of the best ref into absolutely the worst of the worst,” one other added.
UFC officials also had conversations with Herzog after the very fact, with executive Dave Shaw telling the media: “We talked to Herzog after and he was commenting that there have been moments within the fight where Yahya looked like he was right back in it.
“So he’d get knocked down, he’d get knocked down quickly, I believe there have been perhaps five in the primary round, perhaps two more within the second after which I believe how rapidly his eye modified and got swollen.
“I mean, what do I believe? I believe definitely there was a solid argument that the fight could’ve been called earlier but (Herzog) provided his justification and it seemed positive to me.”