There’s a first time for everything and that includes referees getting injured during fights.
At UFC 324 on Saturday, video surfaced of veteran referee Mark Smith being helped backstage after he served as an official earlier in the night. There was plenty of speculation about what happened including a potential medical emergency but it turns out Smith suffered an injury that’s usually reserved for the fighters he’s overseeing in the octagon.
“Nobody’s asked me about the ref blowing his ACL during the fight,” White said during the UFC 324 post-fight press conference. “[It was his] ACL. [Bruce] Buffer’s the only one I’ve seen blow an ACL that wasn’t fighting.”
While video captured Smith being helped out of the arena, it wasn’t immediate clear when or where he actually suffered the injury, although the final fight he refereed was the middleweight bout between Ateba Gautier and Andrey Pulyaev. Smith still stuck around to raise Gautier’s hand after he picked up a unanimous decision victory.
White didn’t know how it happened but it was definitely one of the stranger situations he’s seen since he started running the UFC more than 25
“Blew his ACL — I don’t know what the time was but they had to carry him out of there,” White said.
Smith hasn’t addressed the injury directly, although he did post a message of positive affirmation after he was helped out of the arena to seek medical care.
An Armed Services veteran and pilot, Smith has been one of the most frequently employed referees in Nevada, which is obviously where the UFC calls home. Given the nature of his injury, Smith is likely going to be sidelined for the better part of the next year before he’ll be back officiating in the cage again.
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