Snoring a big sign to stop fight
Source: Agencies |
May 15, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN referee Steve Perceval heard the South Korean fighter snoring he knew it was time to stop the fight.
Caught in a suffocating "guillotine" neck choke by Wiktor Swensson, Choi Seung-hyun had been unable, or unwilling, to tap out and was unconscious by the time Perceval laid him out on the floor of the Martial Combat cage.
Perceval, who has refereed more than 200 mixed martial arts (MMA) fights and was in charge of the action at Singapore's first MMA event, said Choi had been in a good position to escape the choke but Swensson was shouting to him that the Korean had gone limp.
"So as I moved in closer, I listened and I could hear him snoring, which is a common thing when a fighter goes unconscious from a choke," Perceval said.
"So when I heard the snoring I stopped the fight immediately. There was no need for a stretcher as he was only out for a couple of seconds."
While the incident may have looked scary, Perceval said the Korean fighter had been in very little danger and he was adamant the sport's reputation for violence was ill-deserved.
The two-day Martial Combat event had enforced a strict set of standards ranging from the types of joint locks that were banned to striking rules such as "No eye gouging" and "No kicking to the kidney with a heel."
Injuries are part and parcel of combat sports, however, and a bout on Thursday saw a Korean fighter deliver a devastating lock that left his Mongolian opponent writhing on the mat with a dislocated elbow.
Caught in a suffocating "guillotine" neck choke by Wiktor Swensson, Choi Seung-hyun had been unable, or unwilling, to tap out and was unconscious by the time Perceval laid him out on the floor of the Martial Combat cage.
Perceval, who has refereed more than 200 mixed martial arts (MMA) fights and was in charge of the action at Singapore's first MMA event, said Choi had been in a good position to escape the choke but Swensson was shouting to him that the Korean had gone limp.
"So as I moved in closer, I listened and I could hear him snoring, which is a common thing when a fighter goes unconscious from a choke," Perceval said.
"So when I heard the snoring I stopped the fight immediately. There was no need for a stretcher as he was only out for a couple of seconds."
While the incident may have looked scary, Perceval said the Korean fighter had been in very little danger and he was adamant the sport's reputation for violence was ill-deserved.
The two-day Martial Combat event had enforced a strict set of standards ranging from the types of joint locks that were banned to striking rules such as "No eye gouging" and "No kicking to the kidney with a heel."
Injuries are part and parcel of combat sports, however, and a bout on Thursday saw a Korean fighter deliver a devastating lock that left his Mongolian opponent writhing on the mat with a dislocated elbow.
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