According to the Franchise Montreal, Yves Lavigne feels that he may have justifiable cause to take legal action against Le Journal de Montreal for false statements released during a recent “alleged” interview.

And who could blame him—particularly if the statements were indeed false?

What was said?

Well, if you don’t already know, then you’ll just have to visit MMA Crypt to find out (please note the disclaimer at the top in bold, red lettering) as the original article has now been pulled off the shelf.

So far, the only statements released by Yves Lavigne through all of this, have been the following (by way of Ringside Report Host, David Simon’s Twitter account):

“I NEVER gave an interview to that journalist. I NEVER gave an interview regarding GSP vs Koscheck. My lawyer is taking care of this matter."

As a response to Mr. Lavigne’s apparent interview, Josh Koscheck was quick to state the following on his Twitter account:

“UFC referee, Yves Lavigne is clearly not suited to be a referee after his rant of personal attacks and opinions on me as a fighter. It’s supposed to be his job to look at a fight unbiased, but how can anyone trust this guy to fairly referee any fight ever again after his comments? It's scary to think this guy has been calling fights in the octagon for this long. It's very fair to say Mr. Lavigne will never ref one of my fights again. I would never put all my hard work as a fighter or my livelihood in the hands of this ref.

“The (UFC) and the commission would be irresponsible to let him continue his job- any call this guy makes would have to be questioned. You call MMA a professional sport? Well, professional starts at the top. Never would an NFL, NBA or other major sports official state there personal opinions publicly about a player and keep their job. I now question every call Yves has ever made as a referee. Hopefully no fighter ever has to step into a fight with Yves Lavigne as referee. Better get that resume ready Lavigne…..”


Koscheck is absolutely correct when he says that it is a referee’s job to remain unbiased.

In fact, Koscheck instantly reminded me of a similar conversation that I had with Mr. Lavigne himself, during an interview that I did back in June of this year.

These particular details of the conversation were never included with the original interview because it was a part of our post-interview conversation and was in my opinion, completely off the record.

I wish I had the voice recording (I checked but the follow-up conversation was never recorded—again, it was strictly off the record), but instead, I will do my best to recount the conversation without obviously putting words into Mr. Lavigne’s mouth.

Yves and I were engaged in some friendly dialogue as we were clarifying specific details from our recent interview (I believe it had to do with the “Iron Butt” motorcycle ride).

I then asked for Yves’ opinion on the upcoming Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin fight.

Big mistake.

Mr. Lavigne quickly corrected my line of questioning by reminding me that it would be completely inappropriate for him to ever try to choose sides between two separate fighters.

It didn’t matter that Lavigne wasn’t scheduled to be the Official in this particular bout, because he knew that at some point down the road, he would find himself in a position to officiate one of these two men and as such, he wanted to remain as unbiased as possible.

Yes, he even used that word—“UNBIASED.”

No fighter should have to feel as though the referee is against them before the fight even starts.

So imagine that, fight fans—Yves Lavigne refused to pick the winner of a fight that he wasn’t even a part of in a private conversation that was completely off the record.

In my view, there is NO CHANCE that Mr. Lavigne ever bad-mouthed or gave an opinion on Josh Koscheck.

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Does it?