Joe Rogan finds Israel Adesanya joking about the CONTROVERSIAL referee Steve Mazzagatti hilarious
Israel Adesanya Steve Mazzagatti Joe Rogan
Israel Adesanya took his loss at UFC 281 like a champ and Joe Rogan was highly impressed by it. Izzy lost the fight by a TKO but initially he thought it was premature stoppage. During the post fight press conference, Izzy jokingly asked UFC to hire Steve Mazagatti again.
“F**k, bring back Steve Mazzagatti. Bring back Steve Mazzagatti, I would have been fine,” said Izzy. While talking about the stoppage, Rogan on his podcast revealed that it was a right call otherwise, it would have ended in a horrific way for the former middleweight champion. “Pereira was going to hit him with some big shots. We don’t need to see Izzy with his eyes rolled back behind his head flat out unconscious,” said Rogan.
Rogan mentioned how Izzy took the loss as a ‘f***** king’ and hilariously asked for Steve Mazzagatti. Joe said: “He was saying bring back Steve Mazzegati. Because Steve Mazzagatti was a referee that was famous for like fights go way too long. Mazzagatti was famous for that for whatever reason whether it’s justified or not.”
Mazzagatti is one of referees who were part of UFC years ago and is infamous for his late stoppages. It was so bad that once, even Dana White personally called him out.
When Dana White went off at Steve Mazzagatti after a bad stoppage
Steve Mazzagatti was given the responsibility at World Series of Fighting 3 where he was the referee for the fight between Jon Fitch and Josh Burkma. In the fight, Burkma managed to get a nasty guillotine choke which forced Fitch to pass out. However, Mazzagatti didn’t do anything and Burkma himself stopped and let go of his grip. According to many fans and experts It was definitely a bad call and it shouldn’t have happened.
Dana White who is well known for speaking up about bad decisions and unfair stoppages, didn’t hold back and criticized Mazzagatti for his actions. “Does anyone disagree with me that Mazzagatti’s a f—king toolbox? I mean he literally did nothing,” White said about the referee’s in a press conference. “At what point do you realize that this guy is an incompetent fool and he’s going to hurt somebody,” said White.
Steve Mazzagatti does have a bad reputation and it has also been observed in UFC bouts. For instance, during Fight Night 14 when the late Anthony Johnson fought Kevin Burns, Johnson complained about eye pokes but the refreee didn’t notice anything. Ultimately, Burns won the fight via TKO as ‘Rumble’ suffered an eye injury.
Soumya Ranjan
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