UFC 267: Zaleski dos Santos v Saint Denis
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Fight fans witnessed arguably the most egregious display of MMA officiating ever earlier today (Sat., Oct. 30, 2021) at UFC 267 live on ESPN+ from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

The incident transpired during the undercard bout between welterweight veteran Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and Octagon newcomer Benoit Saint-Denis. After a close first round dos Santos started to tag Saint-Denis on the feet. The Brazilian unloaded everything he had and seemed to have inflicted enough damage to finish Saint-Denis.

However, referee Vyacheslav Kiselev refused to step in to stop the fight in one of the worst referee performances ever. Dos Santos kept firing and nearly tired himself out from all of the output. Saint-Denis did end up surviving and lasted the rest of the fight, but he took about five years of punishment in his first UFC appearance.

Making matters worse was a point deduction handed out by Kiselev during the fight after dos Santos landed an illegal groin strike. There was no warning given and considering this is the same ref who refused to stop the fight when dos Santos was battering Saint-Denis it wasn't a good look. In fact, Kiselev did such a poor job that he was removed from his scheduled duties for UFC 267's main card opener between Magomed Ankalaev and Volkan Oezdemir.

As you may have imagined the MMA community was not happy with the horrific officiating. Everyone and anyone took to social media during and after the bout to show their disgust. Check out the reaction below:

For complete UFC 267 results and coverage click here.