The MMA world is in uproar after vision emerged showcasing a referee’s disgraceful lack of professionalism and care during a recent bout.

The footage, from the main event of a Fury FC 76 fight night on Saturday (AEDT), shows Edgar Chairez’s victory over Gianni Vazquez in the flyweight division.

Watch UFC 287: Pereira v Adesanya 2 LIVE on Main Event available on Kayo & Foxtel, Sunday April 9 from 12pm AEDT. ORDER NOW >

Four rounds into the fight in San Antonio, Texas, Chairez placed Vazquez into a triangle choke, and within seconds forced his opponent to pass out.

However referee Frank Collazo (who has refereed in the UFC and was even a judge at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night) somehow failed to spot Vazquez has passed out, even despite his body going limp and his eyes closing.

In almost unbelievable scenes, the commentators can be heard screaming out to the referee to stop the fight before serious damage is done to Vazquez.

“Frank it’s done, what is he doing!” one commentator screams out.

Chairez then released his choke hold and transitioned to an armbar, at which point Vazquez slowly woke up and tapped out – but not before suffering serious injuries to his arm.

“That was nuts… the doctor was yelling across the cage ‘he is out, stop the fight,’” one commentator said.

Vazquez was rushed to hospital before he published a post to Instagram post, featuring an image of his injured arm in a cast with a caption that read “Kill or be killed…..

“This is the fight game and it is not a game, I say if you want to beat me you better gotta put me out cause if not is going to be a long night.

“I make a mistake and it cost me the fight that I feel I was winning, my opponent took advantage of that and with some stupid referee that didn’t stop the fight when I was out, now I have to deal with a potential fracture on my arm and some ligaments damaged too.

“Sorry to all of you guys who support me and believe in me for not bringing the victory, sorry to my coaches for make a mistake that I’m the only one who is responsible for, sorry to all the fans for not giving you guys a better show. We came to fight till the end I did.”

Officials from the Fury Fighting Championship released a statement hours the morning after the incident, criticising the referee for failing to protect the fighter.

“It is the referee’s job to protect the fighter when the fighter cannot protect him or herself,” the statement read.

“In last night’s main event, the referee failed to do this.

“While the job of a referee is one of the hardest to do in this sport, the need for proper and continued training would help to alleviate things like this incident.

“We do not hire, train, or select refs for our shows, but we would be more than willing to lead a revamp and overhaul of the reffing and judging selection and training process.”

Meanwhile, UFC bantamweight Nathaniel Wood revealed his disgust at the referee, writing on Twitter: “That was upsetting to watch, he needs a ban.”

Renowned MMA journalist, Ariel Helwani, wrote: “This is one of the worst jobs by a ref in the history of refereeing. What in the world. As reckless as it gets.”

MMA commentator Sebastian Hack simply wrote: “Disturbing”.