Rene Haendel and Sven Groten at a Versus grappling event in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on June 23 | @Max_Randall, Twitter
A grappler was lucky to escape with his limbs still intact after being the victim of dangerously incompetent refereeing this past weekend.
At a Versus grappling event Sunday in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Sven Groten found himself trapped in a triangle-armbar variation that forced him to offer a quick tap. Unfortunately for Groten, the referee missed the tap and then somehow missed Groten going completely unconscious.
Groten’s opponent Rene Haendel then wrenched the arm of the limp Groten, while staring at the referee in disbelief that the bout was continuing. Finally, the referee stepped in after Groten was visibly limp for several seconds.
Watch the scary sequence below.
Worst ref job in history at yesterdays Versus invitational.
Guy taps, then goes to sleep, then gets his arm snapped while unconscious, THEN keeps getting choked for like 7 seconds while asleep.
THEN the ref does the useless Brazilian-leg-lift.#BJJ #MMA pic.twitter.com/M2E3vAuVlU
— Max Randall (@Max_Randall) June 24, 2024
Following the contest, Groten posted to his social media and appeared to be in good spirits. According to the grappler, he suffered a dislocation, but no bone damage, with further tests pending.
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“Thanks to the crew of [Versus] for caring and all reaching out individually,” Groten wrote in an Instagram caption. “Ref failed terribly though.
“There’s absolute no blame on my opponent [Haendel], you were better yesterday. I’ll crush you next time we compete. That’s a promise. I’ll be back. Better.”
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Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Jiri Prochazka is always prepared.
That mindset has come in handy for Prochazka, who has a chance to regain the light heavyweight title when he rematches Alex Pereira at UFC 303 in Las Vegas this Saturday. Prochazka lost via TKO to Pereira in their first fight in November 2023, but he rebounded with a knockout of Aleksandar Rakic to keep his place in the contenders’ line.
Though Prochazka and Pereira were likely to cross paths sometime this year (according to Prochazka, there had been talks for the rematch to take place in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26 or Aug. 18 in Australia), it came as a surprise to many when they were announced as the new headliner for UFC 303 following Conor McGregor’s injury withdrawal from the originally scheduled main event opposite Michael Chandler.
Prochazka himself still isn’t sure why Pereira agreed to defend the title on short notice.
“I was a little bit surprised by that, I can say yes,” Prochazka said on The MMA Hour. “Because I don’t know what was the reason he said yes, if it’s money or something else, but communication with me from the UFC, they gave me some better—I don’t want to be concrete, but we negotiated about better money. So I don’t know how it was with Alex.”
“But I didn’t know about the money or whatever when I accepted [the fight], so for me this is not so important because the main point is to get the title and to bring it back to Czech Republic,” Prochazka added.
Prochazka has kept busy for the better part of the last decade, fighting 15 times since 2016 and losing just once during that stretch. He defeated Pereira’s mentor Glover Teixeira for a vacant UFC light heavyweight title in 2022, but never got the chance to defend it after a shoulder injury led to him relinquishing the belt.
The 31-year-old is eager to make up for lost time and welcomes any short-notice opportunity that comes his way.
“I believe in that,” Prochazka said. “I was born like a warrior—not I believe in that, I am the warrior and this is just about when the situation and the things around you come like that, you have to just say yes. To react to what happened. Because when something happens on the street, you need to react right now. Right here, right now. That’s what I like about short notice, because you have to react right now, right here. Show me your best right now. That’s all.”
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The only setback Prochazka has seen in the cage in recent years came at the hands of Pereira when they fought at UFC 295. Pereira won a vacant title after hurting Prochazka with strikes late in the second round, but there was some controversy around the stoppage as it was unclear how close Prochazka was to actually being finished.
Asked if Saturday’s main event is his chance for revenge, Prochazka offered a semantic counter.
“Not just a chance,” Prochazka said. “I will win the fight. I will win the fight and I believe in that and I will do that, that’s all. I will not step into a fight where I don’t believe in that, in myself. I already accept that I will do everything and right now is the great chance to show that.”
Prochazka has become as well-known for his stoic persona as he has his thrilling battles, with little known about his life outside of fighting. When Prochazka posts to social media, it is often about his unorthodox training and preparation.
The light heavyweight contender assures fans that he is a rounded human being, but as long as he is competing, he has a sole focus, one that has enriched his life as a whole.
“I just accept this lifestyle and I promise to myself I will do everything to achieve the mastery,” Prochazka said. “To be the master of my field and that’s something that is in my mind. That’s me, that’s my soul, that’s my lifestyle, so that’s why I’m doing that. That’s why I have to wake up in the morning and go run and then meditate, because when you really realize-and that’s the game changer in my life—when you realize you are just a consciousness and how clear is that consciousness, this quality of the consciousness will be the quality of your life. Then, when you realize this, you will start to eat cleaner, to speak cleaner, to have more good relationships with your friends, with a girlfriend, with your family, and you will just naturally start to be a good person-not start to be a good person, everybody’s a good person. Just sometimes we don’t see that because everybody, we have that good inside ourselves.
“That’s why I have no opponent in this world because it’s only one opponent in there, it’s here, and that’s my ego. That’s something that is still keeping the passivity for what we want, we don’t want to do that, but once you accept the way of the warrior, not just to be the fighter but inside warrior, to fight your weaknesses, then everything changes.”
On the first episode of UFC 303 Embedded, Jiri Prochazka lands in Vegas; Anthony Smith gets a new opponent. Cub Swanson has family time; Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes seize opportunities. Michael “Venom” Page shows off his restaurant, and champ Alex Pereira trains with Glover Teixeira.
UFC 303 takes place on Saturday, June 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A light heavyweight rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka headline the fight card.
Sven Groten and Rene Haendel went against each other in a jiu-jitsu match at Versus International this past weekend (June 23, 2024). Unfortunately for Groten, he got the worst-case outcome thanks to an absurdly awful referee.
Haendel caught Groten in a reverse triangle choke and began searching for armbars. Amid the joint-lock pursuit, Groten tapped then passed out immediately after as the referee stood by and watched on before Haendel cranked Groten’s left arm backward. He stared at the referee after the 90-degree angle was created with his unconscious opponent’s limb. Then the referee decided to step in to wave off the action, as seen in the embedded player above. Groten is in good spirits now, revealing his arm didn’t break but was dislocated by the referee delay.
“So that sucked,” Groten said on Instagram. “Got choked out and my elbow dislocated. No bone damage, more info to come.
“I’m in the hand of the best medical professionals with @sportsdoccgn and @pi.physio,” he continued. “Thanks to the crew of @versus.events for caring and all reaching out individually. Ref failed terribly though. There’s absolute no blame on my opponent @rene_haen you where better yesterday. I’ll crush you next time we compete. That’s a promise. I’ll be back. Better.”
Here’s to hoping someone buys that referee some new glasses sooner rather than later.
On the first episode of UFC 303 Embedded, Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka prepare for their main event rematch, Diego Lopes tosses around the Las Vegas Knights mascot, Brian Ortega explains how he ended up fighting Saturday, Michael Page takes a few shots at Ian Machady Garry, and more.
Alex Pereira is tired of hearing how dangerous Magomed Ankalaev is.
On Friday, June 28, ‘Poata’ will once again save the day when he steps into the UFC 303 main event on 16 days’ notice to defend his light heavyweight championship against ex-titleholder Jiri Prochazka.
Following his big first-round KO of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, Ankalaev appeared to be the next man in line for Pereira, though the ‘Brazilian Boogeyman’ didn’t seem too terribly interested in that fight, instead pushing for a rematch with ‘BJP’ following their November 2023 barnburner.
However, Pereira appears to have had a change of heart, revealing in a recent interview that he would more than welcome a fight with Ankalaev once he takes care of a bit of business with Prochazka.
“Magomed Ankalaev is a guy I would like to test myself against,” Pereira told Stake. “A lot of people talk about that match up and say that he will submit me really quickly. I would like to shut a lot of those people up and show a lot of my ground game as well. It won’t be an easy fight, but it will be a very interesting fight.’’
Magomed Ankalaev itching for his shot at Alex Pereira
Magomed Ankalaev has been chomping at the bit to get another shot at the gold since his split draw with Jan Blachowicz for the vacant 205-pound title back in December 2022.
Since then, the belt has been held by two different men but defended only once.
No matter who leaves T-Mobile Arena with the gold on Friday night, Ankalaev will be waiting to emerge from the shadows and take the strap that barely slipped through his fingers almost two years ago.
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