Fight Nights Global officials 'very disappointed' in Falcao stoppage, want better safety standards

Following an incredibly late stoppage at this past weekend’s Fight Nights Global 63 event in Russia, promotion officials have declared there was an “obvious” referee error and pledged to press for better performances in the future.

Former UFC and Bellator fighter Maiquel Falcao (37-10) was dropped early in his April 21 rematch with Russian middleweight prospect Vladimir Mineev (9-1) in Vladivostok, but the bout continued for an excruciatingly long time as Falcao flopped around while being battered relentlessly.

Fight Nights Global officials issued a statement to MMAjunkie in which they were quick to point out that the Russian MMA Union is in charge of overseeing the organization’s fights, but that they don’t approve of how the ending of this bout was handled.

“We are very disappointed at the referee’s performance during the Mineev vs. Falcao fight,” the statement read. “It was obvious the fight should have been stopped long before it actually was stopped. FNG has no control over the referees and judges, as they report to the commission.

“Fight Nights Global holds the safety of its fighters as top priority and will address the issue directly to the commission and continue to invest in efforts to work with the commission on raising the safety and referee standard
in Russia’s MMA sports.”

Watch the video above and judge for yourself.

Fight Nights Global returns to action on Friday in Moscow for FNG 64. Unlike many of the promotion’s events, which were previously billed as Eurasia Fight Nights, FNG 64 will not stream on UFC Fight Pass.