After enough time in the MMA scene, fighters tend to know how the routine goes on fight night. Still, starting a round without the referee’s go-ahead is… inadvisable, to say the least.
That’s a lesson that Rustam Amanbaev and Saykhan Dzhabrailov learned the hard way during their fight at ACA Young Eagles 18 in Chechnya.
Their fight on Monday night was getting ready to head into round three, their corners having left the cage. The referee accompanied the fighters into the center of the octagon, but before he could get the round started, he noticed something on the floor of the cage and left the fighters alone to go investigate. Amanbaev and Dzhabrailov, however, seemed to have been caught up in the moment. They touched gloves and began the fight as the referee was near the fence getting rid of the object on the canvas, and by the time the ref realized that the fight had started without him, Dzhabrailov was falling to the ground, knocked out by his opponent. The fight was over before the cage door had even been closed.
Even though Amanbaev had gotten the knockout, the fight was ruled a No Contest given the fact that the referee hadn’t actually started the round.
You can watch the bizarre moment below: MMA Fighters Start Round, End Fight In KO Without The Referee Â
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This may be a first. Holy shit
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) April 12, 2021
Rustam Amanbaev and Saykhan Dzhabrailov just started R3 without the referee’s signal. The cage door wasn’t even closed and Amanbaev knocked out Dzhabrailov.
Pretty sure it was ruled a NC. You can’t make this stuff up. pic.twitter.com/brE36LHbUf
