Refereeing in MMA has become one of the most hotly debated topics of 2026, and UFC Vegas 117 simply added fuel to the fire. Saturday’s UFC Apex card in Las Vegas saw a big upset when Juan Diaz submitted previously hyped bantamweight prospect Malcolm Wellmaker in the second round.

But, even before Diaz secured the rear-naked choke finish, fans online were outraged by a number of officiating moments that unfolded during the bout. Especially due to a baffling sequence at the end of round one.

After catching a kick, ‘Pegajoso’ cracked Malcolm Wellmaker with a right hand, dropping him badly near the bell. As the 31-year-old scrambled back up, Diaz delivered a knee that caused panic cageside, with the referee reacting as if a possibly illegal shot had landed flush.

The problem? Replays clearly showed the knee connecting with the shoulder, not the head. However, the fight was still paused, warnings were issued, and the entire sequence became unnecessarily messy since the officiating crew seemed unable to accurately identify where the knee landed in real time.

And honestly, that is exactly the kind of inconsistency that keeps frustrating people. A legal strike was suddenly seen as a potential foul, momentum was disrupted, and confusion spread through the arena over something that looked fairly obvious on replay.

To make matters worse, this incident came only days after more criticism surrounding stoppages and referee decisions across recent UFC events, including the backlash from Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira, a fight many believe ended due to an early stoppage. In fact, immediately after the fight was stopped, Taira pulled his mouthguard out and threw it in anger over the refereeing decision.

Lost beneath all of it was the fact that Juan Diaz looked outstanding. The Peruvian newcomer remained controlled throughout the bout, skillfully mixing kicks and takedowns, before totally dominating in the second round.

Once he dragged the 31-year-old back to the mat and secured the back position, the finish was all but inevitable. ‘Pegajoso’ locked in a rear-naked choke at 4:08 of round two and forced the tap, resulting in one of his career’s biggest wins.

Meanwhile, Wellmaker suffered another crushing setback. He seemed to be one of the UFC’s more promising young prospects after receiving bonuses in his first two fights and leaving his pipefitter job to pursue fighting full-time. Now he suddenly finds himself on a two-fight skid in one of the harshest sports imaginable.

But if you think poor refereeing is only limited to the UFC, you couldn’t be more wrong. It seems like this is an epidemic by now, and its latest victim seems to be none other than the latest Netflix MMA card.

The refereeing curse follows Netflix as Herb Dean gets caught under fire moments after UFC Vegas 117

And moments before the UFC Vegas 117 controversy, another refereeing disaster occurred on Netflix’s MMA debut card. This time, Herb Dean came under fire following the chaotic ending between Phumi Nkuta and Adriano Moraes. Nkuta had pushed the former ONE champion to his limit for over 15 minutes before Moraes landed a rear-naked choke with barely seconds left.

The bell rang almost instantly, but the choke continued while Dean stepped in late. By the time Moraes released it, Nkuta was unconscious on the canvas. The situation only got messier from there. Officials reviewed the footage for several minutes before deciding that ‘Turbo’ had gone unconscious before the final horn, granting Adriano Moraes a technical submission win at 4:59 of round three.

But the replay did not clearly support that conclusion, and many from the MMA community decided to call it out. The biggest name among all, Merab Dvalishvili, as he compared it to his own controversial loss against Ricky Simon in 2018.

“Bad flashback of my fight with Ricky Simon,” he wrote on X. “@PhumiNkuta_MMA was NOT out before the bell. His opponent held him 2 seconds after the bell, and that’s when he was slept.

“Ref should have broken it up at bell and the fight would have gone to decision. Again- case of bad reffing… costs Phumi a loss.”

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