Legendary Referee Kakuda Suspended for putting Kozo Takeda in danger.

If you follow Japanese MMA and kickboxing you'll recognize Nobuaki Kakuda. Kakuda is that one referee that always gets the big fights and has a reputation much like Big John McCarthy has in the states. Kakuda is a star in his own right, appearing on the Japanese Dancing With the Stars and has had a host of television commercials. Basically, he has a pretty big following for a guy that just calls the action.

I'm sure most of you have seen Kozo Takeda vs. Albert Kraus at this point, and if you have, you'll understand it was far from Kikuda's shining moment. I understand that Kakuda wanted to give Takeda a heroic sendoff and let him keep fighting, but when Takeda kept getting knocked down and Kakuda kept letting him stand up it got to be a bit brutal. When Takeda kept coming back from incredibly damaging shots and couldn't stand straight it was hard to watch, and when the fight was finally stopped I think a lot of us breathed a sigh of relief.

Kakuda was suspended for 90 days, which impacts the K-1 World Grand Prix and the K-1 Dynamite! show on New Year's Eve.

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