Combat sports fans are outraged at how long it took the referee to stop a combat sport bout at the recent Versus Invitational in the Netherlands.
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The Versus Invitational IV took place in Eindhoven, Netherlands, last weekend and featured a plethora of grappling action, including Grand Prix tournaments in the -88kg No-Gi and -77kg Gi divisions.
In the final bout of the -88kg Grand Prix, German fighters Rene Handel and Sven Groton faced off to determine the tournament winner, but unfortunately the match ended in uncomfortable scenes when the referee appeared to miss Groton's tap (clip courtesy of @Max_Randall).
The worst refereeing blunder in history at yesterday's Versus invitational match.
The man is then lightly tapped and falls asleep, his arms are broken while he is unconscious, and he is then strangled for approximately seven seconds while he is asleep.
Then the umpire does a useless Brazilian leg lift.#BrazilianJiuJitsu #Mixed Martial Arts pic.twitter.com/M2E3vAuVlU
— Max Randall (@Max_Randall) June 24, 2024
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With Groton already in a triangle choke, Handel stretched his compatriot's arms out at a frightening angle and looked up in confusion as the referee made no attempt to step in and stop the bout.
Groton appeared to tap once before being rendered unconscious by a triangle choke, but it took several seconds for the referee to finally intervene after Handel popped the arm of Groton, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
Although the footage of Groton's arm during the finish of the bout looked horrific, the German grappler updated his fans on Instagram, revealing that he was thankfully only suffering a dislocated elbow.
Groton stressed that “the refereeing messed up badly” during his bout with Handel, but it seemed like he was lucky that the referee's delayed reaction at the Versus Invitational 4 match did not cause any lasting damage to the German grappler.
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