A few days after the Lion Championship 5 martial arts event ended, the Vietnam MMA Federation (VMMAF) issued a notice of the disciplinary decision of the referees to assess the evaluation of the match between Tran Ngoc Luong and Robson Oliveira. Accordingly, all three referees received discipline at different levels.
One of the controversial details is that referee Nguyen Dang Khoa, the only one who marked Tran Ngoc Luong also had to receive a discipline like two colleagues. According to information iThethao.vn Noting, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa was disciplined due to an error, leading to an incorrect point in each round.
More specifically, referee Nguyen Dang Khoa Dot Tran Ngoc Luong lost the first and 2nd half, won the third half. This is contrary to the judgment of the VMMAF professional committee. For that reason, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa also had to receive a disciplinary sentence in the form of stopping on the task of 3 consecutive events, the penalty was lighter than the other two referees.
However, the ruling of VMMAF does not make the referees feel satisfied, especially the case of referee Nguyen Dang Khoa. Sharing on his personal page, referee Nguyen Dang Khoa wants Lion Championship's future matches to announce the transcript of the referees.
In fact, the results of professional MMA matches contrary to the public's judgment is not too rare. Even UFC's championship battles have left a controversial result, typically the confrontation between two boxers Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev in late 2022.