Referee Chris Tognoni is facing backlash for allowing extra punches to land at UFC Vegas 109.
The veteran official was the man in the middle when Elijah Smith fought Toshiomi Kazama on Saturday night.
Tognoni was in the perfect position to immediately wave things off when Smith scored a slam knockout that left his opponent unconscious on the canvas for several minutes.
However, he stepped to one side and allowed Kazama to eat two nasty follow-up punches before stepping in to call off the fight.
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UFC Vegas 109 referee faces backlash
UFC commentator John Gooden described the KO as one of the ‘most violent’ he has ever seen.
Slow-motion footage made it look even more brutal, and highlighted a massive error from the referee.
Daniel Cormier said: “Jesus Christ, referee, what are you doing?”
“Yeah, the ref kind of missed that one,” Dominick Cruz added as the commentary trio watched back the finishing sequence.
UFC fans took to social media to agree with the commentators’ remarks about the late stoppage.
“Vicious. Also, wtf ref. You had one job,” one fan said. While another added: “The ref needs to be fired smh.”
“Where’s the ref at??? Wtf those follow up shots could have been avoided.” a third X user commented.
“What was the ref actually doing?” someone else asked.
“Ref took way too long to get in there,” a fifth fan wrote.
“Chris Tognoni needs to retire holy s— how do you allow those 2 follow up shots,” another person fumed.