UFC referee Mark Smith was seen needing medical assistance after he reffed Ateba Gautier’s fight with Andrey Pulyaev last night.
MMA fans are used to seeing fighters leave the Octagon battered and bruised, but referees usually walk away unscathed.
That wasn’t the case for veteran official Mark Smith at UFC 324 in Las Vegas last night.
Smith was overseeing the main undercard bout between Cameroon‘s Gautier and Russia‘s Pulyaev, a fight that went the full 15 minutes with Gautier winning.
While the fighters appeared to escape serious injury, social media footage soon suggested that Smith himself had been hurt during the contest.
A video shared on X what looked like a fans footage, showed the referee being carried backstage by two UFC crew members. One of them was holding a shoe, hinting that Smith may have suffered a foot injury.
Fans quickly reacted online:
One reaction read: “WTF.
Another asked: “What happened?”
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A third put: “Hope the legend is okay, you hate to see it.”
A fourth presumed: “Rolled his ankle pretty bad at the end of the fight.”
While another said: “Dammm…. That’s not good.”
Meanwhile, Paddy Pimblett was also taken to hospital last night following his brutal UFC 324 defeat to Justin Gaethje.
The Liverpudlian’s hopes of becoming the UK’s fourth UFC champion were ended in the main event, as Gaethje dropped him three times on route to a unanimous decision victory.
Pimblett left the Octagon bloodied and bruised, prompting UFC officials to send him to a nearby hospital for further medical checks.
American Gaethje was also taken to hospital on a night that proved MMA isn’t just a dangerous sport for fighters, but also for referees.
