Former UFC fighter calls out Chris Leben for referee mistakes in latest fight (Video)

Justin Jaynes has taken to Instagram to voice his displeasure at Chris Leben for stopping his fight too early and not calling illegal strikes as they were happening.

On Oct. 21, Jaynes was fighting Chris Padilla at UNF 13 in Los Angeles, CA. In the video statement Jaynes points out several times that Leben failed to call illegal strikes to the back of his head.

"Referee Chris Leben was there man, I was super stoked to have him as the ref thought there's absolutely no chance that this fight could get stopped early," he said at the start of the video.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what Jaynes says happened that night.

Jaynes describes the ending sequence "... as I'm working up I can hear Leben at one point, when I was in half guard, he hit me with a couple shots was like 'hey, if you don't move I'm gonna stop the fight.' Immediately I build up to my knees and I eat seven unanswered shots to the back of the head by elbows, by sharp elbows. Let me tell you Padilla has some nasty elbows, and instead of stopping the fight, or giving him a warning, or taking a point addressing the illegal blows, he waves off the fight."

Jaynes went on to add that he's a big fan of Leben and isn't making the video to attack him but rather a way to shed light on the mistakes that were made.

"Mistakes were made in this fight. This isn't a game for me, this is my career. This is everything I have put my heart and soul into it," he said. "When mistakes are made people need to be held accountable."

So far Leben does not appear to have responded to the criticism.

Janes made his UFC debut in July 2020 when he defeated Frank Camacho via a 41 KO. His last fight in the UFC was a split loss to Charles Rosa in July 2021.