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70-Year Old Kick-Boxing Referee Wins 'Fighter Of The Night' After Taking Spinning Kick

70-Year Old Kick-Boxing Referee Wins 'Fighter Of The Night' After Taking Spinning Kick

Joop Ubeda is an absolute trooper..

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

A kickboxing referee was awarded the 'fighter of the night' award after taking a spinning kick to the chest during a bout.

Dutchman Joop Ubeda was caught flush by a kick from Robin Ciric during their Enfusion 91 clash and had the wind knocked out of him.

Both fighters stopped straight away to check on the 70-year old, who had to have a breather as he recovered from the strike.

After taking the kick like a champ, he was then able to call the rest of the fight, which saw Ciric emerge victorious in round three courtesy of a flying knee knockout.

And Enfusion decided he was well and truly the MVP of the evening by giving him the prestigious 'fighter of the night' for his efforts.

Ubeda, is of course, not the only referee to have unfortunately been caught in the cross-fire. Back in June 2016, Hugo Centeno Jr tried to hit Maciej Sulęcki with a wicked right and instead landed a punch on the referee, who was attempting to split them up.

It was a heavy shot but the official showed he has an incredible chin by taking it like an absolute champ, wiping his face with a towel and carrying on.

In the tenth and final round Sulęcki took the win with a stoppage to give Centero Jr. his first career defeat.

But if we're talking about boxing referees, we simply have to talk about Steve Willis. While we've never seen him hit, the man in the middle always produces priceless reactions to what's going on in the squared circle.

You can tell he absolutely loves his job.

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Topics: kickboxing, Boxing, UFC, MMA