MMA Fighter Gets Brutally Knocked Out After Referee Interferes With Fight

A referee at Brazilian MMA event Acesso MMA 12 manage to make sure a fighter sustained two fight-ending shots in the night’s headlining bout.

Largely dominated by a UFC London card that saw Movsar Evloev take a contentious majority decision over Lerone Murphy in a battle between undefeated featherweight contenders, the weekend’s slate of MMA action was also highlighted by Cage Warriors 203 and the PFL’s debut event in Madrid, Spain.

As always, there was plenty of other regional MMA scattered around the weekend for hardcore MMA fans, including an Acesso MMA 12 card that took place on Saturday night at Ginasio Paulo Sarasate in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil.

Referee Confusion Sets Up Brutal Head Kick KO At Acesso MMA 12

Featuring a 10-fight card of amateur and professional MMA action, Acesso MMA 12 was comprised entirely of Brazilian talent leading up to a headlining lightweight bout between Brazil’s Ricardo de Almeida and Argentina’s Santiago Chamorro.

A veteran of 16 professional fights, de Almeida was making his first appearance of the year after he dropped a decision to Wily Pereira in his LFA debut at LFA 209 in May of last year. Chamorro competed three times in 2025 and was stopped with strikes in back-to-back outings after going 2-0 in 2024, but he closed out last year with a first-round submission at The Champion MMA 7 in Brazil.

A clinch exchange along the fence during the final two minutes of the opening round provided de Almeida with the chance to start unloading on his opponent with a vicious barrage of strikes, and a huge left hand that dropped Chamorro initially looked like it had brought an end to things (h/t to the only and only @Grabaka_Hitman).

God DAMN. Ricardo de Almeida executes Santiago Chamorro with a violent head kick KO in the Acesso MMA main event. That was INSANE #AcessoMMA12 pic.twitter.com/lJwRd6SGk4
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 22, 2026

The referee appeared to jump in as soon as Chamorro hit the canvas before he suddenly backed away and let “Santty” rise to his feet. There was a brief moment of confusion where both fighters appeared unsure of what to do, but it only took a second before de Almeida landed a brutal head kick on the now-defenseless Chamorro and sent him crashing to the mat.

The result marked the third time that Chamorro has been stopped with strikes within the last year, and he’s also been finished in every one of his losses. Concerningly, the Argentinian does have another fight against Pietro Micelli currently scheduled for Messapicum FC 18 next month, but presumably that matchup will be scrapped after Chamorro sustained an ugly knockout-loss that was aided by the referee’s interference.