The challenger series shows have thus far brought us some action packed cards. And this both fortuneatley and unfortuneatly seems to have been by design.
It's fortuneate in that Strikeforce tries to pair off guys who will give good fights.
It's unfortuneate in that it sure does appear as though the ref's, who are typically unknown, are pushing the fighters to engage much harder then we would see the top ref's would. Even in barn burner type fights like Gurgel vs Huen the ref was telling the fighters to engage during the brief lulls in the fight. Also when fights go to the ground there is the constant chatter from the ref, threatening to stand the fight up.
Now I understand the point in that we do not want to see guys in lay n pray mode. But the ref is not a horse jockey, he should not be whipping the fighters into action packed fighters. That is not the ref's role. Or at least it should not be, but I do tend to think that the action of the ref's is being dictated by the higher ups at either Strikeforce or Showime.
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