Video: Fighter choked unconscious, suffers arm injury because ‘ref failed terribly’

A grappler was lucky to escape with his limbs still intact after being the victim of dangerously incompetent refereeing this past weekend.

At a Versus grappling event Sunday in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Sven Groten found himself trapped in a triangle-armbar variation that forced him to offer a quick tap. Unfortunately for Groten, the referee missed the tap and then somehow missed Groten going completely unconscious.

Groten’s opponent Rene Haendel then wrenched the arm of the limp Groten, while staring at the referee in disbelief that the bout was continuing. Finally, the referee stepped in after Groten was visibly limp for several seconds.

Watch the scary sequence below.

Worst ref job in history at yesterdays Versus invitational.

Guy taps, then goes to sleep, then gets his arm snapped while unconscious, THEN keeps getting choked for like 7 seconds while asleep.

THEN the ref does the useless Brazilian-leg-lift.#BJJ #MMA pic.twitter.com/M2E3vAuVlU

— Max Randall (@Max_Randall) June 24, 2024

Following the contest, Groten posted to his social media and appeared to be in good spirits. According to the grappler, he suffered a dislocation, but no bone damage, with further tests pending.

“Thanks to the crew of [Versus] for caring and all reaching out individually,” Groten wrote in an Instagram caption. “Ref failed terribly though.

“There’s absolute no blame on my opponent [Haendel], you were better yesterday. I’ll crush you next time we compete. That’s a promise. I’ll be back. Better.”