Refereeing is a thankless job. The pay isn't great, and when you do your job correctly, nobody cares for you, or thanks you. Sometimes, you can do everything correctly and a fighter may still hate you. It's even worse when you genuinely make a mistake — you'll be the talk of the MMA world for days, weeks even.

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However, there are some referee mistakes and fight-ending calls that are so controversial, they live on in MMA perpetuity. Whether it is a late stoppage, an early stoppage, or a referee calling a fight over when there's quite literally no reason to, there are many stoppages throughout MMA history that are controversial.

10 Cris Cyborg vs Jan Finney (Strikeforce: Fedor vs Werdum)

This was controversial heading in as Cris Cyborg was already making an early case for being the greatest women's fighter on the planet, and was coming off wins over Marloes Coenen and Gina Carano. Finney, on the other hand, was sitting at a lackluster 8-7 record, with not a single win coming inside the Strikeforce cage. Cyborg was a -2000 favorite heading in, and it showed in the cage.

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The stoppage was controversial as Cyborg knocked out Finney in the second round. The controversy of this ending is not because it was stopped too early — it was far too late. From the onset, Finney looked out of her element as she was bludgeoned for the entire fight. The fight saw outrage as Finney took loads of punishment before the stoppage.

9 Anthony Johnson vs Kevin Burns (UFC Fight Night: Silva vs Irvin)

This is legitimately one of the largest signs of incompetence ever seen by a single athletic commission. When Anthony Johnson met Kevin Burns in 2008, Johnson had to fight with one eye. Burns poked Johnson in the eyes four times throughout the bout, and not a single point was taken, nor was he disqualified as a result. In the third round, Johnson was poked in the eyes again, and it sent him spiraling down to the mat. Shockingly, Burns was given the win via eye injury to Johnson.

Despite Johnson going directly to the athletic commission to have the bout overturned as eye pokes aren't a legal strike, the win was upheld.

8 Aspen Ladd vs Germaine De Randamie (UFC Sacramento)

Aspen Ladd and Germaine De Randamie met in the main event of UFC Sacramento in 2019, and with one quick shot from De Randamie, it was done 16 seconds in. Herb Dean stepping in to halt the bout after a right hand sent Ladd crashing down, however, saw some fans, and even Ladd herself, calling it a premature stoppage.

Ladd and her team went to the commission to have the fight overturned, on the grounds that it was a premature stoppage and it wouldn't have been stopped if perhaps, she wasn't a woman. The athletic commission sided against Ladd's case, with a surprisingly close 3-2 decision from the committee members, leaving the win on De Randamie's record.

7 Robbie Lawler vs Ben Askren (UFC 235)

Ben Askren's highly anticipated UFC debut against Robbie Lawler in 2019 was not without controversy. Lawler opened the fight and nearly knocked out Askren in a strong start. However, Askren survived and soon turned the tide against the former champion. Askren eventually got Lawler in a bulldog choke, and despite Lawler not going out, referee Herb Dean stopped the fight.

The finish was controversial, but Lawler was a decent sport about it and did not contest the result. However, even if he did, it was unlikely to get overturned.

6 Drew Dober vs Leandro Silva (UFC Fight Night: Maia vs Laflare)

To say Leandro Silva got a little home-cooking in his fight against Drew Dober is a massive understatement. In the second round, Silva latched on to Dober and looked for a guillotine. As Dober was squirming free, the bout was inexplicably called to a halt by referee Eduardo Herdy. Despite never going out, or being in any sort of danger, the referee gave the win to Silva on account of a technical submission.

UFC President Dana White gave Dober his win bonus on account of the egregious error, and shockingly, the Brazilian athletic commission overturned the fight to a no-contest after the referee admitted his mistake.

5 Tonya Evinger vs Yana Kunitskaya (Invicta FC 20)

Tonya Evinger's Invicta title run seemingly came to a close in November 2016. Facing challenger Yana Kunitskaya, Evinger got caught in an armbar from the challenger. The referee told Evinger to not use her heel on Kunitskaya's face to try and wiggle out of the armbar, despite that being a perfectly legal technique. Kunitskaya submitted Evinger soon after.

However, the Missouri athletic commission saw the oversight and reversed the decision, meaning Evinger retained her bantamweight title in the process.

4 Ion Cutelaba vs Magomed Anklaev (UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs Figueiredo)

It took all of 38 seconds for there to be controversy in this one. As Ankalev landed a big shot in the opening seconds, Cutelaba began ridiculously wobbling all over the place, really just playing possum hoping Anklaev would jump in for a big shot. As he did, referee Kevin MacDonald put a stop to the contest, thinking that Cutelaba was out on his feet, when he wasn't.

Despite Cutelaba sending an appeal to the commission, the bout wouldn't be overturned. Turns out the old phrase of "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes", still rings true.

3 Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock 2 (UFC 61)

Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock's rivalry was supposed to come to a conclusion at UFC 61. After Ortiz dominated in their first encounter at UFC 40, the two met for a showdown where instead of answers, all we got were questions. Ortiz took Shamrock down in the opening of the fight and quickly began landing elbows. Seemingly three short elbows in, referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight, with Shamrock immediately protesting and the crowd booing.

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UFC President Dana White seemed to be on Shamrock's side, as he booked a trilogy fight for the two. Once again, Ortiz won easily.

2 Michael Chiesa vs Kevin Lee (UFC Oklahoma City)

When lightweights Michael Chiesa and Kevin Lee met in the main event of UFC Oklahoma City, the bout was expected to be a fun battle between two submission aces. In the end, the fight did come to an end via submission, but a quite controversial one. Lee submitted Chiesa in the first round with a rear-naked choke. However, Chiesa didn't tap or go out.

Chiesa protested immediately and eventually filed a complaint for the fight to be overturned. Predictably, it wasn't.

1 Kazushi Sakuraba vs Marcus Silveira (UFC Japan)

Kazushi Sakuraba's first UFC appearance was quite a strange one. Near the beginning of the bout, Silveira landed a nice combination as Sakuraba went for a takedown. Referee John McCarthy thought Sakuraba had been knocked out rather than going for a takedown, so he stopped the fight for Silveira, prompting a protest from Sakuraba and the crowd in attendance.

At the time — seeing as this was in the 90s — Japan didn't have many MMA regulations, and McCarthy just reversed his own decision minutes later upon review. The two fought once again later in the night, with Sakuraba winning via armbar.