An MMA fighter got put to sleep with a triangle choke and then armbarred while he was still out in the main event of Fury FC 76 on March 24th, 2023. It will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst referee stoppages in the history of professional MMA, and for very good reason. Dana White’s Contender Series veteran Edgar Chairez and Gianni Vazquez were competing in the final fight of the night and although it was competitive for the first three rounds, Chairez managed to hit a winning sequence on the ground in the fourth round.
The full video of MMA fighter Gianni Vazquez being choked out and then armbarred at Fury FC 76 can be seen below:
Ridiculous scene at Fury FC. Edgar Cháirez puts Gianni Vazquez to sleep with a triangle, and the ref simply doesn't stop it. Cháirez ends up armbarring an unconscious Vazquez who wakes up in the submission. #Furyfc76 pic.twitter.com/AgcwI2i3ss
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 25, 2023
Chairez locked up a tight triangle choke and although Vazquez didn’t tap, it was pretty clear that he was rendered unconscious at one point. Up until this point, nobody had done anything wrong and this was pretty standard fare for an MMA fight. The referee didn’t appear to notice that Vazquez was unconscious though, and Chairez switched to an armbar to try to find the finish. At that point it was blatantly clear that Vazquez was still unconscious while Chairez was bridging into the armbar for a good 20 seconds.
Vazquez was rushed to hospital before he published a post to Instagram post, featuring an image of his injured arm in a cast with a caption that read “Kill or be killed…..
“This is the fight game and it 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.
“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 make 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 referee still took no action to end the fight and it was clear that significant damage was being done to Vazquez’s arm. He actually waited to intervene that long that the unfortunate MMA fighter came around on his own after being choked out and was finally able to tap to save himself from further unnecessary injury. For the most part referees do a good job of protecting fighters, but there are occasionally bad stoppages that make headlines when a referee allows a fight to continue too long or stops it early. There is always a fine line to walk as a referee, but at Fury FC 76 that line was completely ignored in a display worse than you would see in even the lowest ranks of regional MMA.
