Referees committing major errors during MMA fights no longer come as a surprise. Nearly every UFC event gets marred by officials making mistakes that often spark controversy. However, a major blunder occurred outside Dana White’s promotion that made fans shake their heads in disbelief.

At LFA 243, the Lorenzo Figueroa vs. Helton Jose Jr. heavyweight fight, held on October 9th, witnessed the latest referee fiasco unfolding. Both 265-pounders swung haymakers from the opening bell, but it was Jose Jr. who dropped his opponent first. The Brazilian hurt his opponent with a barrage of shots on the ground. However, he could not finish Figueroa with strikes and resorted to a guillotine.

Moments after, Figueroa tried to raise his hand to escape the position, but referee David Shurley thought he tapped and stopped the fight. Even the commentary team believed Figueroa submitted to the guillotine. Figueroa immediately started protesting the stoppage, which prompted the referee to check the exact moment. Upon reviewing it, the official restarted the fight.

Jose Jr.’s aggressive approach once again produced a knockdown. However, Figueroa survived and countered his opponent with a barrage of looping hooks to ultimately secure the victory at the 3:17 mark of the first round, completing the most unbelievable comeback. 

Despite the exhilarating matchup, the entire chaos unfolded because referee David Shurley did not properly make the call. At first, he stopped the bout without clearly identifying Figueroa’s tap, which he mistook. But the gravest mistake followed when the official restarted the fight after waving it off.

Under the Unified Rules of MMA, an official fight cannot be resumed or restarted once the referee has officially stopped the bout, even if instant replay or a commission review shows the stoppage was a mistake or a bad call.  

Looking at the stoppage, veteran reporter Adam Martin urged Helton Jose Jr. to appeal the decision to the commission on social media. 

“This is wild, but this dude should definitely appeal it,” Martin posted on X. “I don’t think the ref is following the correct protocol here at all.”  

It remains to be seen whether Helton Jose Jr. will knock on the commission’s door, but fans are enraged by the referee’s amateurish way of officiating the fight. 

Fans grill referee after controversial call during LFA heavyweight fight 

One angry fan wrote, “The ref is letting the fighter decide the tap, THAT’S INSANE. What’s the point of him being there if he isn’t going to officiate? They need to hire an entire new group of refs and vet them like never before.”

Another fan followed up, “They determine so much important decisions, they need to be held accountable.” A different user found the finish really impressive but admitted that the referee was at fault, “Great comeback but that dude was clearly robbed no? Ref made a mistake that he had to pay for.”

Referee David Shurley has been officiating fights for quite a while. However, his experience has been largely limited to regional promotions. Still, he has worked for organizations like LFA and Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat, and he also officiated two fights at UFC Fight Night Sacramento this year.

Even so, this seems to be the first time David Shurley was entangled in such a major controversy. Still, his violation of an important MMA rule did not sit well with the fans.

A fan wrote, “What a f***ing joke. And people jump on the Pereira bandwagon about Herb Dean? Be grateful we have such an experienced and knowledgeable ref like Herb in there.”

Well, veteran referee Herb Dean had a terrible 2026 after getting embroiled in multiple controversies this year, most notably for not calling out Ciryl Gane’s back-of-the-head shots against Alex Pereira at UFC White House. However, he has also mistakenly sabotaged a high-profile bout in the UFC.

At UFC 235, Ben Askren had a bulldog choke locked in on Robbie Lawler when Herb Dean stopped the fight. The long-time ref thought Lawler’s arm went limp, but he missed a thumbs-up from the former champ and waved the fight off at the 3:20 mark of the first round.

Lawler was understandably livid after the fight. However, Herb ended up clarifying that he did not notice the thumbs-up, and both squashed their differences right there. Though it was not remotely close to what happened at LFA 243, the instance proves that strange stoppages are part and parcel of the game. 

That said, after the LFA heavyweight fight ended in a massive referee controversy, it would be interesting to hear Shurley’s clarification about the stoppage and whether the commission ultimately gets involved.