NSAC’s Keith Kizer: Replay in MMA Possible by Year End
Following the lead of other major sports, limited video replay could soon find its way into mixed martial arts, possibly before the end of 2009.
The debate over instant replay heated up last year when Kevin Burns was awarded a TKO victory over Anthony Johnson due to an accidental-but-illegal eye poke which was missed by the referee that left Johnson unable to continue. A similar scenario that played out on Saturday at UFC 99 reignited the debate, when Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s knockout of Mostapha Al-Turk was setup by another missed eye poke.
Speaking to MMAjunkie on Tuesday, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer revealed that instant replay could soon be adopted by the state where the UFC holds the majority of its events, and whose rules are used for events held abroad in locations lacking their own athletic commissions:
“We’re trying to find out if there’s a way to do limited instant replay. We’re hoping to find a way to do that.
“Actually [instant replay] was [UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and former NSAC director Marc Ratner's] idea years ago, and it just never went anywhere – mainly because of technology – but now I think we’re finally there. It has to be a foul or a stoppage that immediately ends the fight. You would never change the strategy.
“It would only be [used in] those situations where there’s an immediate stoppage of the fight and the ref wants to know was it an illegal blow, an intentional foul or an accidental foul that immediately stopped the fight. Then it would still be [the referee's] discretion. It wouldn’t be up to the commission. It wouldn’t be the corner. It wouldn’t be the promoter. It would be the referee’s decision, just like in football. If he looks at it and he can’t tell, you’ve got to go with the original call.
“I would think you could see it as early as the end of the year if the commission agrees to make that regulatory change. The proposal will be in front of them this summer. Whether they pass it or not – then it takes time to cautify it – it could be near the end of the year.”
[Pictured: Kevin Burns eye pokes Anthony Johnson]
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this could possibly open up a pandora’s box of excuses for when guys get tko’s and the ref stops the fight. they will be like he poked me in the eye with the second punch… I dont see why replay should be used in the UFC.
I disagree, AJ v. Kevin Burns is good enough reason to use replay. Under these proposed new regulations that fight would have gone to the scorecards upon review, and AJ would have been given the win he earned. Instead Burns was given a TKO victory that he didn’t earn. The Cro Cop fight Saturday night would have been declared a no contest. Even if a fighter protests and says “I was poked in the eye,” the ref still reviews the video (after the fight has already been stopped) and makes a discretionary call as to whether the illegal strike lead directly to the end of the fight. If a fighter gets blasted with a five strike combination, and strike number 4 grazes their eye, and strike number 5 makes them look collapse like Rashad Evans did against Machida, I would argue that the grazing of the eye had nothing to do with that fight ending, and I think that’s a pretty easy argument to make.
Have to agree there Justin. I think it would simply lead to more no contests more than anything. The only way i could see a fight continuing because of it would be if it was something like Johnson-Burns, where there was no TKO and the fighter that was poked was able to continue after 5 minutes.
The problem with it is when it’s like Cro Cop vs Al-Turk where Al-Turk was already staggered and going down before he was hit in the eye.
Fights would not continue under any circumstances after replay review. The replay review would take place after the fight had already been stopped and only serve to determine if there should be a TKO, NC, or Decision (if stopped in the third round).
They would also only apply in instances where the fight was stopped immediately. If you have what may be an eye poke in minute one of the second round, and the fight goes to a decision, there would be no review. Similarly, if there may be an eye poke (or groin shot) in the first minute of the round, and a fighter gets T/KOed in the fourth minute of the round, there would be no review. (If you follow the link to the Junkie article there is more detail given as to how the replays would be put to use.)
Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t expect the corner to throw out a red flags to initiate reviews in the middle of the fights by any means
Just wasn’t sure if it would fully allow for continuation of the bout if the ringside doctor allowed like in normal instances of the accidental fouls.
I so see tito making a fuss that this replay is so many years late, because chuck poked him in the eye during one of their fights and if the ref had stopped it and given him time to recover tito would have beaten chuck. I am 99.99999% he will say something.
I agree 100% that this would help correct a select few outcomes (Rumble Johnson vs. Burns for sure, and the recent Cro Cop fight would be questionable) but what scares me is that it kind of creates an emergency ripcord for a fighter who senses he is about to be put away. Somebody on the verge of a ground and pound who is pretty sure a big whooping is coming might, after the first punch, act as if he got poked in the eye just so that after the TKO is over, maybe the people that are looking at it on replay might be coerced into changing the TKO to a NC. I am skeptical on the surface that this would happen, however, two reasons come to mind that make me think this wouldn’t be unusual. A) its not like controversy has been a foreign substance to the world of MMA lately, no pun intended and B) and more importantly, the UFC is applying more and more and more pressure on its fighters to win, or at least not lose. Aside from the big guns, nobody has a whole lot of job security in the UFC and this outlet (faking an eye injury rather than trying to properly defend yourself) might be worth trying if losing and then getting cut from the UFC is the only alternative. Also, the proof may be in the pudding. Mustafa Al-Turk is not getting cut from the UFC, while he almost certainly should be. The reason? probably because his last fight may or may not have been a legimitate loss.
Without the pressure of “lose and you are getting released,” i doubt fighters would do that, but we all know the ramifications lately are almost to that degree for many fighters.
I was not claiming Al-Turk faked his injuring because I dont beleive that is true, but the fact that he didnt get released from the UFC makes me wonder if it’s becasue of the eye-poke and for no other reason.
With the amount of video angles in proximity to the cage or ring it would be rather hard to fake an injury like that. Not to mention it would only be up to the discretion of the referee to change the in-fight call. A referee is not going to admit he is wrong unless he has evidence that clearly shows he was as it would negatively affect his own standing with any athletic commission.
Yeah I also think it would be unlikely that it would actually work, but under the circumstances, it may at least be worth a try in some minds, which is the part I don’t like
well in the NFL you can try to move your arm forward when you get sacked before passing the ball to try and get a call… doesn’t mean it’ll work and the one time it does the backlash would be so fierce the rules would change…(FYI I’m not a bitter Raiders fan, Jacksonville is my team)
WTF?! Limme guess their soon going to have a challenge or even time outs as well! This is MMA not the NFL,NBA,NHL,or MLB.Horrible idea simply for the fact that its a fight unless the referee see’s it let it ride.MMA has been very good without it and it won’t need it either.
yeah, if you take the human element out of it with instant replay, what next? Is it possible there would be an interruption, then a rest, then they end up putting time back on the clock…
Personally, it the fastest rising sport on the planet (and my personal favorite), so let’s leave well enough alone.
No, it’s not possible there would be an interruption, then a rest, then they end up putting time back on the clock. Please read my two comments up here.
Maybe instead of instant replay the NSAC could just alter their rules to avoid anyone else getting “Anthony Johnson’ed” in the future? Isn’t it possible for them to change the rules so that they could just invalidate a referee’s bad decision as it relates to something in-cage the he missed, like an eye gouge or unseen low blow or something?
Sort of retroactively fixing the problem instead of interrupting the fight and harshing the vibe at the event?
The fights would not be interrupted only the results would be changed(as Justin said earlier). It’s not necessarily bad refereeing either you have to remember the refs are trained almost just has hard as the fighters themselves. Sometimes they just miss things due to a bad angle or they make a mistake. Most refs at the big event level are the most proven refs available(even Miraglotta) so the fact they make a mistake sometimes isn’t a shock. Ed Hocculi is one of the best refs in the NFL yet he made headlines due to a mistake that he recognized but couldn’t correct it under the rules. It happens in MMA too may as well give them a shot to redeem themselves.
Also if you correct a ref’s call after the fight without the ref having any chance to see it for himself it “officially” makes a record of his mistake which can hurt the ref’s chances of getting fights(aka making money) in the future. This keeps the refs from feeling that their decisions mean less in the cage/ring.
The vibe is going to be messed up no matter what if a fight ends due to an illegal strike but this just makes it so at least the ref can make the proper decision on how to decide the fight.
in certain ways it’d be good but would drag out the fight and give fighters too long to rest, one thing good about mma is it doesnt go on for 3 hours of same thing it has a diversity, it should be used in situations like burns gettin poked and al turk where they both turn there back cover face and say im not fighting, if it happends and replay shows it was false should get deducted a point or loss to referee stoppage but to stop a fight to look at a replay is lame
I really wish people would read sometimes. It’s been stated at least three times that the fight would not get stopped to look at the replay. If the fight is stopped immediately after the possible illegal strike, as in the case of the Al-Turk fight and Burns v. AJ fight, then it is reviewed. Otherwise, the fight goes on as normal and there is no review.
people only read what they want to at first, you know this…
so why would they stop the fight to look at a replay, that is just retarded damnitt
Fr has apparently been hanging out with Bravo again…
hahahaha nice