CSAC Adopts Rule to Limit Travel for Judges, Refs After Recent Controversy

The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) is limiting how far its judges and referees can travel when working consecutive events.

CSAC executive officer Andy Foster issued a memorandum on Friday that officials who work in the state can only travel as far as Nevada — or vice versa — if they are planning on working events on back-to-back days. Ariel Helwani was first to report the news. The memorandum is as follows: While the Commission understands that, as Officials you may also work in other states. It is imperative that you be at your best for those assignments and keep in mind the travel distance between locations when accepting consecutive assignments. If you work in California on a Friday, the Commission finds it acceptable for you to work as far as Nevada on Saturday or vice versa. If you accept an out of state assignment that is within one day of an assignment in California, you may be removed from the California assignment if you are being required to travel further than the state of Nevada.

The rule comes after MMA judge Douglas Crosby worked Bellator 289 in Uncasville, Conn., on Dec. 9 before traveling to Las Vegas to judge the UFC 282 card one day later. Crosby submitted a pair of controversial tallies — one at each event — over that weekend. He scored the Bellator 289 main event between Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello 50-45 in favor of Sabatello in a bout that Stots won via split decision. Then, he submitted a 29-28 tally for Paddy Pimblett in his controversial unanimous decision win against Jared Gordon in the UFC 282 main event.

The Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulations is going to review the Stots-Sabatello fight with Crosby and the other two judges who scored the bout. Mohegan Athletic Department Director of Athletics Mike Mazzulli has acknowledged that Crosby’s scorecard was “controversial” and that Stots winning was the correct “result.”