NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer Discusses The DQ In The Jones vs. Hamill Fight

Posted by Larry Csonka on 12.06.2009

And the use of replay…



- Nevada State Athletic Commission Keith Kizer spoke after last night's Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale show, here are the highlights…

On The Decision In The Hamill vs. Jones Fight: "It's completely up to the referee," Kizer said. "When Mazzagatti came around and looked at the replay, they were actually showing a perfect angle. Good work by the cameramen, I must say. [Mazzagatti] saw that, and it was pretty straightforward from there."

On The Use Of Instant Replay At The Show: "Once Mr. Jones got off Mr. Hamill, (Mazzagatti) took the point away, and when he went back to check on Mr. Hamill, he saw he wasn't in condition to continue because of the facial wounds," Kizer said. "[Mazzagatti] used instant replay to determine whether the intentional fouls contributed to those wounds, and they definitely did. He made the call he had to make."

On Why It Is A DQ: "At the end of the day, you have the illegal elbows that cut [Hamill] up, and that's why it was stopped. The only call you can make in that situation is a disqualification. There was a deep, jagged cut on the bridge of the nose," Kizer said. "Obviously (there's) a lot of blood there. Steve stopped the fight initially to take the point away. He looked at [Hamill], and he couldn't continue. [Mazzagatti] had to make an initial call and then came down to look at the instant replay. I think, in the end, there was also damage there to the shoulder that didn't come into play with the stoppage. The only time you have a no contest is if it's an accidental foul," Kizer said. "If the referee calls it accidental, it would be no contest if it happens before the end of the second round (in a three-round bout). If it happens in the third round, you go to the scorecards. An intentional foul, if the fighter can't continue due to the intentional foul, in whole or in part – in any round – it's a disqualification."

Should The Fight Have Been Stopped Before The Illegal Blows?: "I don't think [the fight should have been stopped]," Kizer said. "If you look at the ending there, there was a lot of nice blocking by Mr. Hamill."

On Using Replay: "I still hope it's a very seldom-used deal," Kizer said. "But I think when we added it, that's exactly what we talked about – see the cuts and what caused it, or see the eye pokes. Was it an eye poke or a punch? Here's a place where you had to see what caused the cut. No one knew about the shoulder at the time of the stoppage. It was all about the crimson mask. His eyes were filled with blood. Obviously there were a lot of good, lawful elbows before that, but where did the multiple elbows land? There were actually three of them, and at least two landed in that area."

Credit: MMAJunkie.com