This Was a Bad Day at the Office for One Poor Fighter… Renat Kyatifov Was Knocked Out First And Then Put to Sleep By Referee…
Referees should never want to be the center of attention in an MMA fight. If they are, it usually means there has been a contentious decision. Something has probably gone badly wrong. Maybe they’ve been late with a stoppage, leaving a fighter to take too much damage (cough, Mario Yamasaki, cough). Or perhaps they’ve chickened out of taking points away for an eye poke.
At the end of the day, referees are human and they do make mistakes. However, what happens when an MMA fighter attacks a referee? That really depends on who the ref is. As most of them are involved in martial arts training, many of them are capable of defending themselves.
Ukrainian referee Arman Ananyan was forced to put a fighter to sleep after getting attacked in the octagon. Of course, there’s more to this story than meets the eye. But first of all, you can watch the video footage below.
Bad Day at the Office
Poor old Renat Lyatifov. He was fighting against Karlo Caput at Crimea Rush in his native Ukraine. This fight really did not go the way he must have imagined it. Opening the prelims of the event, he was knocked out after just 10 seconds, thanks to a barrage of punches from his opponent.
Lyatifov was obviously totally disorientated by the vicious blows he took to the head. After the referee intervened, Caput wheeled away in celebration. However, Haidari tried to keep fighting, and not realizing that the fight had been stopped or that the referee wasn’t his opponent, he kept the attack going.
Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, this particular referee is a former M-1 veteran. Arman Ananyan is a former professional fighter and he was able to use his experience to defend against the take-down and then sink in a guillotine on the concussed fighter. Was it overkill? Possibly, but at the same time, he was forced to defend himself.
Lesson Learned
It’s a big lesson for poor old Lyatifov to learn. Don’t mess with an MMA referee. More high-profile refs like Marc Goddard, John McCarthy, and Herb Dean have all trained, fought, and coached themselves, so it’s clear that’s how they get an intimate knowledge of the sport. Fighters will definitely respect referees more if they know that they can handle themselves.
This was an entertaining night of fights with former UFC fighter Jim Alers getting submitted in the second round of his bout against Miraf Piraev. Another highlight reel moment was when Ismaiel Haidari was almost decapitated by Mansour Vitaev with a very violent head kick.
Busy Night
The results from a night of action in Crimea can be seen below.
145: Igor Krylov (2-0,) def. Vladimir Melnikov (2-1) by unanimous decision.
155: Ruslan Tedeev (9-3, #121 Russia) def. Makhmud Musalov (3-4) by Rd. 1 TKO.
170: Andrei Ciubotaru (10-9,) def. Konstantin Linnik (6-8, 0-1 FNG) by unanimous decision.
155: Mikhail Gogotidze (8-5) def. Nasratullah Akhondzada (4-2) by unanimous decision.
155: Mansur Vitaev (5-1) def. Ismaiel Haidari (3-2) by unanimous decision.
