Viewpoint: Upon Further Review

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In the grand scheme of things, Erick Silva is going to be just fine.

More people will remember the breathtaking fashion in which the 27-year-old welterweight dispatched Carlo Prater at UFC 142 than the “L” that appears on his record at the moment.

Silva began with a flourish on Saturday, attacking Prater with a knee to the body before pushing the 41-fight veteran to the canvas. A series of rapid-fire hammerfists followed, and referee Mario Yamasaki quickly stepped in to intervene just 29 seconds into round one. That appeared to make two sub-60-second finishes in two Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UFC appearances for Silva. The frenzied crowd inside the HSBC Arena recognized that the next potential Brazilian star was being born right in front of its eyes.

The enthusiasm soon faded when the decision was announced, however. Yamasaki ruled that Silva had landed illegal strikes to the back of Prater’s head and awarded the WEC veteran a disqualification victory.

According to FightMetric.com, Silva landed eight significant strikes -- 12 overall -- before the bout was stopped. Multiple replays suggested that nearly all of those punches were legal, although one did appear to find the back of Prater’s head. The ruling resulted in the rarest of post-fight interviews, with UFC analyst Joe Rogan interrogating Yamasaki.

“I have to decide right there and then,” Yamasaki said. “There is nothing I can do.”

Meanwhile, UFC President Dana White had a blunt reaction on his Twitter account: “BS call for Erick Silva,” he wrote.

In hindsight, it is always easy to criticize the judgment of an official. Yamasaki has refereed 220 fights in the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Pride Fighting Championships, EliteXC, International Fight League and K-1 promotions, so it is reasonable to assume that he knows his craft fairly well. Most of the time, Yamasaki gets it right -- otherwise he would not have stuck around for as long as he has. Still, while fans and analysts had multiple opportunities to break down the action in slow motion, Yamasaki only had the heat of the moment. Nobody -- in any walk of life -- makes 100 percent foolproof decisions under those circumstances.

In mixed martial arts, wrongs can be righted; it just tends to happen days, weeks or months after the fact. At UFC on Fox 1, Robert Peralta appeared to knock down Mackens Semerzier with a punch that set up his technical knockout victory. Video review showed it was an incidental head butt -- not a punch -- that stunned Sermerzier, and the bout was ruled a no-contest by the California State Athletic Commission a month later.

In the NFL, a touchdown can be overturned in a matter of minutes if it is determined the scoring player stepped out of bounds before reaching the end zone. A buzzer-beating jump shot is subject to closer examination in the NBA immediately after it happens.

Even Major League Baseball, with its sometimes-antiquated traditionalist values, allows umpires to consult the tape to answer the question, “Fair or foul?”

The UFC, the organization most geared toward the 18-to-34-year-old demographic of any of the above, does not yet have instant replay. If the promotion can embrace social media like Facebook and Twitter as well as it has, then it obviously understands the value of immediacy. And in live sports, nothing displays the urgency to get it right immediately than instant replay.

Sure, nobody will remember that Prater’s hand was raised in the Octagon five years from now, especially if the fight is reviewed and overturned down the road. Silva himself showed high character immediately after the fight in a situation where he very easily could have complained. White announced at the post-fight press conference that Silva would receive his win bonus in full.

“I have great respect for the referee,” Silva said through immediately following Yamasaki’s decision. “I see most [of the punches] hit the side of the head. I don’t see any that hit the back of the head.”

If Yamasaki had been able to review the conclusion of the fight, he could have done one of two things: determine that Silva did not land any flagrantly illegal blows and overturn his original ruling or decide that the single glancing blow had seriously hindered Prater’s chance of winning and keep it the same. Either way, it would allow for a more level-headed decision and eliminate the need for any kind of anti-climatic change in the coming weeks.

Imagine if the main event had gone differently, and Jose Aldo had followed up his knee with strikes similar to those that Silva threw against Prater. Obviously, that was not the case, as Chad Mendes landed flat on his back, but it is a possibility worth considering.

Silva’s performance will be respected in terms of matchmaking within the company regardless of the official result. A title fight with a questionable ruling would need to be resolved in a more timely fashion, however.

Instant replay is the answer to this hypothetical problem. The Silva-Prater affair was not the only fight that could have used another look at UFC 142. In a preliminary bout between Yuri Alcantara and Michihiro Omigawa, there was some question as to whether the Japanese featherweight had tapped to an armbar late in the first round. He did not and the bout was not stopped, but if Omigawa had indeed asked out, a quick review could have identified it.

For now, instant replay should be instituted for all bouts that result in a stoppage: be it submission, technical knockout or otherwise. Further details can be ironed out at a later date.

In a brave new world with instant video replay in the UFC, cooler heads will prevail; correct calls will be made, and the phrase “upon further review” -- or at least something like it -- will have never sounded so sweet.