Referees in the sport encounter the same level of controversy and criticism that befalls their contemporaries in team sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL etcetera). To fans of MMA it can seem that our officials are more inept, but when taking into consideration the increased difficulty in making judgment calls in a combat sport and the fact that unlike in team sports there’s only one set of eyes on the action, I think it runs about even.

The problem is that those very same differences are why MMA referees need to be held to a higher standard.

Obviously there’s needs to be some clarification as to what constitutes a strike to the back of the head. But as Joe Rogan explained in a post on The Underground, the video footage and additional vantage point it provided clearly showed that all but one of the shots were legal strikes to the side of the head:

The people in the truck couldn’t believe it. I had to read it back to them because I thought it was a mistake, and when I leaned over to explain it to Goldie he couldn’t believe it either. I had to ask Mario about it. I didn’t know how he was going to respond, but I had to ask him.

Many viewed Rogan’s confrontation as unprofessional. I was a bit more sympathetic to Yamasaki than most other fans on Twitter and blogs seemed to be. I empathized with him as he saw the video, realized his error, and apologetically stated that he can only go by what he sees in the moment and make a judgment call based on that. What’s really unfortunate is that the whole thing could have been avoided if the UFC allowed instant replay.

Which it should. I oppose it in Major League Baseball because the games run too damn long as it is without the extra time that challenges and reviews would add. For that same reason, though, I think it should be allowed in MMA. The kind of actions that would necessitate Instant Replay are going to be those involving potential rule violations akin to what we saw two weeks ago; the type that end a fight well before its scheduled three or five rounds. Although it’s possible that the use of instant replay would delay or eat up unnecessary time on a card, it’s not very likely unless something happens late in the final round. Besides, the promotion and broadcast team already burn up time after the fight replaying and discussing it anyway.

I also don’t think it would necessarily undercut the authority of referees like Yamasaki, so long as there’s a limit as to what could be challenged. For instance, I don’t think that it would or should be used to dispute whether or not a referee should have called off a fight. However, in an instance like the Silva/Prater incident where Silva was disqualified for what Yamasaki perceived as a rules violation, it’s definitely warranted.

In short, if it’s used to dispute whether or not a blow was illegal or a rule was actually violated, instant replay would do nothing but benefit the sport. It will not address the issue of discrepancies in the interpretations of rules or the rules themselves, but it certainly won’t hurt.

Le took literally the beating of his life this past Saturday night, and it was totally avoidable.

 I’ve read both ire and praise directed towards Joe Rogan after he vehemently criticized the stoppage in the second round of Saturday’s fight between Wanderlei Silva and Cung Le.

 Surely, Rogan has been around long enough to know better than hugging your opponent’s calves with your face on the mat while he pounds the side of your head doesn’t quite qualify as a “takedown attempt” as he insisted.To be fair, though, the original angle did show Le as being deceptively active. It was only when they showed the angle that the referee saw – where Le’s face practically exploded after a knee before collapsing to the canvas – where it was absolutely clear that fight was over and whatever Le was doing was pure reflex. Rogan, to both his detriment and benefit as a color commentator, is first and foremost a fan of the sport. I think his fanboyish obsession with Le – one that he shares with no shortage of fans in the sport – got the better of him. Still, this ignores that having a loose grip on whatever happens to be in front of you is not enough to qualify as intelligently defending yourself, and the fact that when it was stopped, Le’s hands were apart.

 Personally, I think Rogan owes referee Dan Snell an apology for calling him out in public for a bad stoppage and then harping on the point. There have been bad stoppages in MMA – and there always will be – but that wasn’t one of them.

 As for the fight itself, Wanderlei looked like it was 2001. Clearly his return to Chute Box has reinvigorated him physically and mentally, as that was the most focused and on-point I’ve seen him in years. After losing four straight, he got a much-needed win against a legitimately dangerous opponent. I won’t go so far as to say he’s back, but it’s a step in the right direction.

 Le, on the other hand, should not fight at this level if he’s not going to take it seriously. I’m not talking about his waist, either, which too many people harped on. Le’s always had a thicker core. Sure, he had an extra pound or two he didn’t have a few years ago, but the guy is 39 years old. The problem, though, is moments like when he had Silva rocked and primed for a kill in the first round with a spinning backfist, which he followed up by completely wiffing on a stupid wheel kick. It only got more frustrating as the fight went on. Early in the fight, he was able to keep Silva at a distance with devastating front kicks. As the round wore on and especially when he got in trouble in the second round, he resulted to more spinning back kicks, axe kicks, and other gym rat bullshit.

 I mean no disrespect to his love of San Shou and devotion to the form. Okay, maybe I do. See, the thing is, that sort of thing is all well and good when you’re in Strikeforce fighting an aged and broken Frank Shamrock and other hand-picked opponents in-between film shootings. But the UFC is on a whole different level. They’re going to put you in there against guys that can do some real damage, and if you’re not going to take it seriously enough to throw a straight punch when you need to, you’re going to end up without a nose at the end of the fight.

 More than reckless in terms of competition, Le’s choices posed a very real danger to himself in that fight. Maybe he’ll realize that, or maybe he’s still not that serious about MMA and just needed or wanted to pick up a paycheck in front of his home crowd.

 As bad as Saturday night was, just imagine if things had gone as originally planned and Le stepped in there against Vitor Belfort. That fight would have been even harder to watch.