When it comes to referees, the best ones are said to be those whose names you do not know. Unfortunately, Keith Peterson made a blunder that had his name ringing bells on Saturday. Peterson was in charge of officiating the UFC Vegas 75 prelim bout between fighters Daniel Argueta and Ronnie Lawrence.

In the early minutes of the game, Argueta employed a guillotine choke that Lawrence expertly defended. However, as the match progressed to the point where Argueta mounted his opponent, Peterson came in to oversee the action closely.

At this point, it looked like Lawrence had tapped out, and Peterson made the call to stop the match. Lawrence immediately protested, and upon a review of the replay by the officials, it became evident that Peterson had made a mistake.

This unfortunate incident led to the match being ruled a “no-contest” with Lawrence being saved from a loss. UFC commentator Dominick Cruz did not mince his words accusing Peterson of making a big blunder and other fighters also joined in criticizing Peterson.

The incident was widely commented upon by other fighters. Aljamain Sterling, Jamahal Hill, and Michael Chiesa agreed that Peterson’s call was wrong, and while Chiesa acknowledged Peterson’s mistake, he could not resist the comparison with Mario Yamasaki, another referee who made dubious calls.

Raphael Assuncao expressed no hard feelings towards Peterson, while Billy Quarantillo thought that no contest was a fair outcome. Brian Kelleher empathized with the fighters and suggested that flat rates should be paid to fighters to prevent such errors from having impactful financial consequences.

Lastly, Casey Oneill poked fun at the whole situation, suggesting that bad refereeing calls will be next on the UFC bingo card.