Nevada Votes To Adopt Limited MMA Instant Replay, But Questions Remain

It was only a matter of time before the words "instant replay" and MMA became intertwined. The Nevada State Athletic Commission fused them together Wednesday, giving referees the opportunity to review a controversial stoppage and potentially change the outcome.

First reported by MMA Weekly, the NSAC passed the following rule:

"A referee at the conclusion of a contest or exhibition stopped immediately due to an injury to an unarmed combatant pursuant to NAC 467.718 and after making a decision, may view a replay if available in order to determine whether the injury in question was caused a legal blow or a foul."

A five-member committee unanimously passed the rule and it could go into effect as early as 30 days from now.

The example being tossed around the most is the UFC Fight Night 14 match between Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns that was stopped when Burns accidentally poked Johnson in the eye and Johnson couldn't continue. Referee Steve Mazzagatti missed the poke completely and gave Burns a TKO win, leaving Johnson out of luck even in a subsequent appeal.

Under this new rule, Mazzagatti could order a replay and reverse the decision if he saw fit.

Of course, obvious questions arise:

- Who are the ref's influences into a review? If they missed it the first time, how are they supposed to know they should make a judgment on a replay?

- Only the ref can make the call to review, but it's unclear as what 'conclusion' means. Is there a certain time limit here: minutes, hours, days?

- Where will the referee view the video and how could he be influenced by fans, officials, etc.?

- How influential could promoters be if a star fighter gets a loss due to a perceived missed call?

- Potentially, couldn't this be a detriment to a referee if they don't ask for a replay?

- Finally, what else could fall under the replay rule in the future and will other states adopt?

I'm not stuck in the stone age on replay and think it can be of great service, but I need to understand more about how the process works before giving it the star of approval.

Josh Nason - josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. He has been a contributor to Fight Magazine since January 2009, Bleacher Report since 2008 and frequently appears on Fight Network Radio.

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