MMA Referee breaks fighter’s nose in impromptu brawl during event

Jamaican mixed martial artist Hubert Desmond Cole ended up fighting not one, but two men inside the cage during an MMA event.

Competing as part of a tournament under the Rough Fight League banner in St. Andrew, Jamaica, Cole found himself under attack from the presiding referee after landing a potentially inadvertent blow on the official. During the contest, the referee attempted to break up a clinch where Cole appeared to have landed multiple low blows on his opponent. Cole struck the official as he was being separated from his opponent.

Incensed by the perceived attack, the referee flipped the script and immediately went on the attack, landing multiple strikes on Cole and breaking his nose in the process. As a result, Cole will be held up from training for the next four weeks and is now threatening legal action over the attack.

“Right now, my nose is broken,” Cole said. “The nurse said it can heal by itself but I will have to put a bandage over it. I have to take at least one month from the hard-hitting of the punching bags and pads because the nose will break again. I want this to be publicized. What I did was punch down the Rasta in the ring. All of a sudden the referee turned down on me. I want someone to pay the price” (h/t MMA News).

Andrew Mullings, Rough Fight League CEO, Issues Statement on Incident at MMA Event

Rough Fight League CEO Andrew Mullings issued a statement following the impromptu triple-threat match, highlighting Cole’s rule-breaking actions that ultimately led to the incident.

“One of the rules is that there should be no strike, whatsoever, to the groin of your opponent,” Mullings said. “The referee went to separate them and it appeared as if Hubert Cole struck the fighter, and while striking the fighter, he struck the referee. I think the referee lost self-control and did more than his fair share of separating the fighters and defending himself.”

The disqualification loss kept Cole out of the win column once again. The Jamaican MMA fighter has no recorded wins in his combat sports career. Fortunately, the L he took against the referee won’t count against his official record, but he was disqualified from his bout at RFL 7 following the first-round festivities.