A fighter went to sleep face-first at UFC Vegas 110.
The UFC returns to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada with a 13-fight card headlined by David Onama vs. Steve Garcia.
Submissions littered the prelims as Sedriques Dumas tapped out to Donte Johnson and Talita Alencar opened up the card with a rear-naked choke, asking for a new contract with the win.
The featured prelim of the night almost ended with a knockout after Billy Elekana dropped Kevin Christian.
The light heavyweight bout continued on the ground with Elekana squeezing his opponent’s neck for a tap-out the referee did not see.
- READ MORE: Fans fear referee will ‘get someone killed’ after terrifyingly late stoppage
Referee totally misses tap, lets fighter go unconscious at UFC Vegas 110
Less than 90 seconds into the opening round, Elekana had locked in a rear-naked choke on a badly beaten Christian.
Referee Chris Tognoni was on the opposite side of Christian when the fighter tapped out to the choke.
The referee didn’t notice and neither did Elekana as Christian tapped the Octagon canvas instead of his opponent.
“He’s tapping on the far side,” Brendan Fitzgerald said on the UFC Vegas 110 broadcast.
“He tapped like twenty times!” Michael Bisping said while Christian was in the choke.
10 seconds later, the referee stopped the contest and Christian was unconscious on the canvas.
Fans react to referee not stopping the fight in time
Referee Chris Tognoni came under fire for letting Christian go out cold.
“The only statement made is Chris Tognoni needs glasses,” one fan said of the referee.
“Need an outside the octagon ref for moments like this. Scary,” another fan suggested.
“Give refs an earpiece and add second ref outside octagon to watch fights on multiple screens so that they can alarm octagon ref if something like this happens. Keep fighters safe!” a fan wrote on X.