In the life of an MMA fighter, to face a near death experience is not something entirely unforeseen. Gianni Vazquez had one such in the ring when a referee remembers the lights turning on and off, but his memory admittedly is distorted.

“To be honest, I cannot remember everything perfectly – how it happened,” Vazquez told MMA Junkie days after Fury FC 76. The sounds are more vivid memories than the sights for Vazquez, who recalls a familiar voice screaming for referee Frank Collazo to stop the fight.

“I heard clearly the voice of Alex Morono,” Vazquez said. “I’m always watching the sport and Fury FC fights or whatever, so I recognized his voice right away. He’s like, ‘Hey, Frank, what are you doing? Stop it. Stop.’ So then I kind of wake up and I see a little bit with my eyes, the referee. His face is on my face almost. Then I kind of passed out again.”

With an arena full of fans, promotion officials and coaches, Collazo was unperturbed as Edgar Chairez continued to choke an unconscious Vazquez, waiting for the feeling of a tap. When the tap never came, Chairez switched to an armbar, which freed up blood and oxygen to reunite with Vazquez’s brain.

“I started feeling a lot of pain on my arm, so I wake up,” Vazquez said. “My body kind of feels like a noodle. It didn’t react. So I started tapping with my leg. I started tapping with my feet. Then, I was kind of coming in and out, so I kind of went back to sleep a little bit, like one second or two seconds, probably. Then, I wake up and I started feeling more and more pain in my arm. Little by little, I tried to fight with my hand to tap with the hand and they stopped it.”

The struggle was longer than Vazquez’s mind can account for. The switch in and out of consciousness makes the whole thing a little fuzzy. It wasn’t until he got to the hospital after the fight and rewatched his bout that he realized the magnitude of the situation – and how lucky he was to not be worse off. Visit Nextbet for fresh MMA stories and find also good betting odds. 

“I saw the video and was like, ‘Oh, goddamn. That was a long time this f*cking guy didn’t stop the fight.’ I guess it was a pretty long time when I was out there,” Vazquez said.

Since the incident occurred, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) has yet to publicly sanction Collazo for the mishap, though it did acknowledge to MMA Junkie that it was aware of the incident.