The Five Worst Referees in MMA Today

Other than fighting in the cage, having the occupation of refereeing a bout may be one of the hardest jobs in mixed martial arts.

Like in any other sport, a good referee is almost invisible during a fight, only interjecting themselves when the need arises. 

However, when a referee is forced into the forefront of a fan's consciousness, it is usually for a negative reason.

MMA has had its share of officials who repeatedly botch calls to the chagrin of fighters and fans alike.

Here are the five worst referees in MMA today.

5. Yves Lavigne

Usually one of the better referee's inside the UFC's Octagon, Yves Lavigne makes the list for a few questionable calls he has made over his career.

At UFC 96, Lavigne caught a lot of heat for his handling of a welterweight matchup between Pete Sell and Matt Brown.

Brown was pummeling Sell early in the first round and looked to keep going, but Lavigne grabbed a hold of Brown and ripped him off of Sell. After separating the fighters, Lavigne made them fight again.

Sell was still dazed and unable to fight back as Brown capitalized on his weakened state, coming back hard and finishing Sell in the first round.

Many fans in attendance chanted to stop the match as Sell should not have been allowed to continue.

This botched call would not have been so bad if Sell had not been put in serious danger, taking a number of unnecessary strikes in the late stoppage.

In the bout between Chris Leben and Jake Rosholt, Lavigne failed to intervene quick enough as Rosholt choked Leben out. Leben went unconscious and started convulsing.

His worst transgression was in the Matt Wiman vs. Mac Danzig fight. Wiman had Danzig in a guillotine and asked Lavigne to check if he was asleep. Lavigne grabbed his arm and declared him out.

Danzig, however, was still very much conscious.

Although you cannot judge a person just by their transgressions, Lavigne has made too many questionable calls and deserves his place on this list.

4. Cecil Peoples

Cecil Peoples has been drawing the ire of fans and fighters alike for not only his poor scoring as a ringside judge, but also for his antics as a referee.

Peoples' approach to refereeing seems contrived and unauthentic, as he uses catchphrases and gestures in the cage that seem just plain odd.

While refereeing the Daniel Cormier vs. Tony Johnson bout, Peoples had the audience scratching their heads as he performed an odd, karate chop infused opening to signal the fighters to start fighting.

Going against the conventional norm that referees should not draw attention to themselves, Peoples tries to coin his own catchphrase—"Let's dance"—that just seems a little bit off for a MMA bout.

Peoples has also been known to botch calls, for example in the Owen Rubio vs. Mike Gonzalez fight, missing that Rubio tapped. Gonzalez thought that he submitted and released the hold but, since Peoples did not intervene, the bout continued.

As both a referee and a judge, Peoples has made a lot of enemies in the sport for his questionable calls.

3. Larry Landless

Larry Landless may have fallen-off as a referee in recent years, but his history of terrible calls make him worthy of this list.

In a 2003 match between Phil Baroni and Evan Tanner, Landless stopped the bout prematurely in an attempt to prevent Baroni from taking too much damage. However, Baroni had not absorbed that much damage and wanted to fight on.

After the fight, Landless even issued an apology to Baroni for the bad call.

With a host of other bad calls on his resume, one would hope that Landless would up his game as a referee, especially since he has also competed as a pro fighter.

2. Dan Miragliotta

One of the more recognizable referees in the cage today, this notoriety has not always come without criticism.

Dan Miragliotta has had his share of bad calls that have made fans cringe.

At UFC 85, Miragliotta mistakenly raised Jess Liaudin's hand when Paul Taylor had actually won the fight.

This embarrassing mistake is just one of many in this referee's career, who has had a number of bogus stoppages and early stand-ups under his belt.

At UFC 111, many observers believe that he let Frank Mir take too match damage from Shane Carwin, believing that the bout should have ended earlier.

With a myriad of other mistakes in his past, Miragliotta is no where near at the top of the referee rankings.

1. Steve Mazzagatti

Steve Mazzagatti has been the consensus worse referee for years by MMA fans.

UFC president Dana White has even gone so far as to say that Mazzagatti is one of the worst in the business saying, “This f**king guy shouldn’t even be watching MMA on TV, let alone refereeing it. I think he’s the worst ref in the history of any fight business, ever. He’s horrible."

One of his most notable transgressions was in a bout between Ronda Rousey and Sarah D'Alelio. 

Rousey had won a quick armbar victory over D'Alelio in the first round, with Mazzagatti stopping the match. However, at no point did D'Alelio tap or signal her submission.

Another botched call was in the first meeting between UFC heavyweights Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar was deducted a point and forced to stand up after hitting Mir in the back of the head. The customary procedure would be to give a warning first, something Mazzagatti failed to do.

When Mir caught Lesnar in a kneebar, Lesnar repeatedly tapped but Mazzagatti did not intervene for an absurdly long time.

The list goes on and on, leaving fans and industry leaders alike to suggest that Mazzagatti should leave the sport entirely.