Mark Smith ACL tears don’t happen often in UFC—but one did at UFC 324 on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 52-year-old referee tore his ACL during an actual fight he was officiating. Not while training. Not while demonstrating a technique. Smith finished the entire 15-minute preliminary bout between Ateba Gautier and Andrey Pulyaev, then had to be carried out of the arena.
That’s the thing about combat sports – we spend so much time analyzing the fighters that we forget about everyone else in harm’s way. Smith’s been officiating MMA bouts since 2011, worked his first UFC event in 2014, and this was his 884th professional fight as a referee. Nearly 900 fights without incident, then your knee decides to explode during a relatively calm middleweight preliminary bout.
Dana White broke the news at the post-fight press conference with his typical bluntness: “Nobody’s asked me about the ref blowing his ACL during the fight. [It was his] ACL. [Bruce] Buffer’s the only one I’ve ever seen blow an ACL that wasn’t fighting. Yeah, he blew his ACL. I don’t know what time it was, but they had to carry him out of there.”
Mark Smith has been carried out. Hope he is alright. pic.twitter.com/OqBT6sW7bO
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) January 25, 2026
The Physical Reality Behind the Mark Smith ACL Injury
Here’s the reality – being a UFC referee is more physically demanding than most people realize. You’re not just standing there making decisions. You’re constantly moving, repositioning, sometimes diving to stop fights, occasionally getting clipped by stray strikes. Smith’s an Armed Services veteran and pilot, not some desk jockey who wandered into the octagon.
The injury happened in the final seconds of the third round as Smith was signaling the conclusion of the fight. Gautier won by decision; both fighters walked away without major damage, and the fight itself had no major cuts or knockdowns. This wasn’t some war where Smith got caught in chaos. His ACL just gave out.
What do you expect when you’re asking a 52-year-old man to stay mobile and alert for 15 minutes of professional combat? The human body doesn’t care about your experience level. Ligaments don’t respect your resume.
The Bruce Buffer Precedent
Dana White specifically mentioned Bruce Buffer’s ACL tear, and that comparison tells you everything about how rare this is. Buffer tore his ACL back in 2011 at UFC 129 while introducing Georges St-Pierre before a main event fight. Just doing his signature 360-degree spin and boom – knee gone.
Two non-combatant ACL tears in UFC history that White remembers. The Mark Smith ACL injury now joins Buffer’s as the only two times an official’s knee has given out during a UFC event. That’s it. Buffer is doing his theatrical entrance, and now Smith is officiating his 884th fight. Both injuries happened during routine moments, not dramatic collisions or spectacular falls.
I think that’s what makes this so unsettling. We’ve seen main events get shaken up before, but officials going down mid-event? That’s a different territory.
What Smith’s Instagram Didn’t Say
Smith posted on his Instagram story after the event: “Always end the day with a positive thought. No matter how hard the day may have been, there is always a reason to be grateful.” Notice what’s missing – any direct mention of the injury.
That’s veteran mentality right there. Smith completed the fight, got carried out, and posted philosophical positivity without making it about himself. Meanwhile, the main event saw Justin Gaethje defeat Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title in a brutal five-round war that sent Pimblett to the hospital, conscious but bruised and bleeding after being knocked down three times.
Smith’s injury could have derailed the entire card if he couldn’t finish that preliminary bout. Instead, he gutted through it on a torn ACL while Gautier and Pulyaev finished their fight none the wiser.
The Officiating Vulnerability We Ignore
Come on – we need to talk about age and physical demands in officiating. Smith is 52 years old with 884 fights under his belt. That’s an incredible experience, but it’s also nearly 900 opportunities for cumulative wear and tear on joints, ligaments, and reflexes.
The UFC doesn’t have mandatory retirement ages for referees, unlike some sports. Should they? I’m honestly not sure. Experience matters enormously in reading fights and making split-second safety decisions. But if your ACL can blow out just signaling the end of a round, that’s a legitimate concern.
My Bold Prediction
Here’s my take on what happens next: The UFC will quietly implement some form of physical assessment protocol for referees over 50 within the next 18 months. They won’t make a big announcement about it, and they won’t frame it as a response to Smith’s injury, but it’s coming. The liability issues alone demand it.
I could be completely wrong about this – the UFC might decide experience trumps everything and leave the current system untouched. But I doubt it. Not after carrying a referee out of the arena on fight night.
What This Means for Smith and the Sport
The Mark Smith ACL recovery timeline is unclear, but tears typically sideline athletes for months. ACL tears typically sideline athletes for months, and while referees aren’t athletes in the traditional sense, the physical demands of the job remain. No official timeline has been confirmed, but don’t expect to see him back in the octagon anytime soon.
The bigger question is whether this changes how we think about officiating as a physical profession. At Ringside Report Network, we’ve covered every angle of combat sports for years, but referee injuries during active fights? That’s new territory even for us.
It’s complicated because you want experienced officials who’ve seen everything, but you also need officials who can physically handle the demands of the job. Smith proved on Saturday that toughness and professionalism can get you through a fight, even with a blown ACL. But should he have had to?
The UFC 324 main card delivered drama with Gaethje’s victory over Pimblett in a fight scored 48-47, 49-46, 49-46 by the judges. The 37-year-old Gaethje handed the 31-year-old Pimblett his first UFC defeat. But the story nobody expected was the Mark Smith ACL tear—the third man in the cage becoming a casualty.
That’s combat sports – unpredictable, unforgiving, and apparently dangerous even when you’re just there to enforce the rules.
