At UFC 307 this Saturday, referee Dave Seljestad returned to officiating in the UFC and it was a night to forget after the rookie made a plethora of mistakes which were pointed out by commentators Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan.
The referee officiated the first bout on the UFC 307 prelims between middleweights Ihor Potieria and Cesar Almeida, which turned out to be a fascinating matchup between two strikers.
Both 185lbers were looking to return to the win column after disappointing losses in their last outings, with Potieria desperate for a win as he was 1-3 in his last four fights.
Dave Seljestad’s previous experience officiating UFC bouts
This wasn’t the first time Seljestad has officiated in the UFC, however, after his shocking performance, it could well be his last.
After cutting his teeth on the regional scene since 2012, Seljestad was given a promotion to officiate at UFC 278 in 2022, where he officiated two fights.
He first officiated a fight between Victor Altamirano and Daniel Lacerda and then later the same night officiated a big flyweight fight between Amir Albazi and Francisco Figueiredo.
Fast forward a year and with the UFC’s return to Salt Lake City, Seljestad was once again in action at UFC 291 where he officiated fights between Miranda Maverick and Priscila Cachoeira, and C.J Vergara vs Vinicius Salvador.
He most recently officiated on the PFL 5 regular season card this past June.
Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan rip Dave Seljestad’s officiating of UFC 307 bout
Unfortunately for both Potieria and Almeida, the main talking point from their back-and-forth fight is about how bad the officiating from Seljestad was.
In round two, the Brazilian caught ‘The Duelist’ with an eye-poke which was completely disregarded by the referee, it was only for an instant groin strike straight after that the fight was paused momentarily.
After the Ukrainian took a few seconds to recover from both the poke to his eye and the proceeding low blow, Seljestad restarted the action.
Just a few moments later, Potieria was once again poked in the eye, but this time in the opposite eye. This time Seljestad offered Potieria water, which isn’t actually allowed so instead, he just restarted the action.
Picking up on the plethora of mistakes made by the referee, UFC commentator Daniel Cormier began mocking him, stating that ‘the ref is drowning man’.
After four successive eye-pokes, he failed to deduct a point from Almeida which was critiqued by Cormier’s commentary partner, Joe Rogan.
UFC Hall of Famer, Marc Ratner told Jon Anik during the fight that the referee should’ve undoubtedly taken a point from Almeida.
“For the record, UFC Hall of Famer Marc Ratner to my immediate left said the referee should’ve unequivocally taken a point,” Anik said on the broadcast.
The 36-year-old Brazilian went on to be awarded the unanimous decision victory, returning to the win column and handing Potieria his second successive defeat.
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