Brazilian athletic commission approves instant replay with help from 'Big' John McCarthy

Instant replay would have helped longtime referee “Big” John McCarthy make the correct call in a 2011 fight between Mackens Semerzier and Robbie Peralta.

After Peralta caught Semerizer with a flurry of punches at UFC on FOX 1, he was awarded a TKO victory. When arena monitors replayed the ending sequence, however, McCarthy realized an accidental headbutt had set the finish in motion.

McCarthy successfully lobbied the California State Athletic Commission to overturn the decision. Now, he’s helping the UFC-backed Brazilian athletic commission, also known as CABMMA, put instant replay in place for future MMA events it regulates.

CABMMA announced today that McCarthy helped set guidelines for the new policy. While the tool rarely gets deployed for major events, its implementation further aligns the Brazilian commission with major Stateside commissions – among them, the Nevada State Athletic Commission – that have used it for several years.

According to a press release, instant replay won’t be available for smaller events that lack the technology to make it possible. But for major events, it will be available when it’s suspected a fight ends from a foul, whether intentional or unintentional.

While a fight can’t be restarted, the referee can request the sequence be replayed so he or she can make the correct decision in declaring the official results. Referees can now evaluate whether or not a fight was stopped at the right time, whether a foul brought an end to the fight, or whether a tap was missed.

“Once the referee reviews the replay, the referee can confirm (whether) or not an offense has been committed and has caused the end of the fight,” the release stated. “It should be noted that the instant replay is not to be used to evaluate the actions of referee.”

In the case of an accidental foul like the one seen in Semerzier vs. Peralta, the bout should have gone to the scorecards. Per the unified rules, if a accidental foul ends a bout in the third round of a non-title fight, judges score it on the first two rounds and the portion of the third round that took place. Instead, the bout was changed to a no-contest.

McCarthy has long pointed to that call as an error that could have been solved on the spot. A member of the Association of Boxing Commissions’ rules and regulations committee, he and others have pushed to make instant replay a requirement for ABC member commissions.

The tool might help CABMMA from making needless mistakes. Then again, instant replay also is responsible for handing UFC interim light heavyweight champ Jon Jones his only professional loss – via disqualification from an illegal 12-6 elbow. The rules and regulations committee is working to change that one, too.

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