Video: Watch referee shoot a takedown to stop ground and pound

MMA referees often get a lot of flak for missed or blown calls, and it’s a thankless job, but it’s important to give them extra praise when they have to rise to the occasion and stop someone who refuses to end their onslaught once the fight is over.

Such an instance just happened at FFC 53: Argentina in Buenos Aires when Emanuel Rivero was tackled by the referee after failing to stop his ground and pound on Roger Garcia in a timely manner.

Rivero was putting the screws to Garcia, buckling him with a leg kick before flurrying and dropping him with a sweet spinning backfist. From there, Rivero got on top and began to rain down right hands, with about five of them landing to the back of the head. That’s when the referee stepped in to halt the bout, but Rivero apparently wasn’t finished with his barrage and wanted to score some punches with his left hand. At that point the ref did what he had to do to save Garcia. The official planted his feet, grabbed ahold of an underhook, and proceeded to run straight through Rivero until he was on his back.

Salute to this referee, and maybe we should all take some notes from him on how to properly finish a takedown!