Dog owner tells me to leave the dogs to fight

Went for a walk on the beach with my daughter, her yorkie and Champ. On our walk there was the odd un-leashed dog, but one owner stood out. On our way out we found his jack russel about a kilometer from him, sitting and watching us. The dog was where we could not get around (dunes and water on either side) so I had to make Champie sit untill the Jackie passed us. Later on, on our way back we found the same owner with his Jackie and his Rotweiller cross. After a short altercation about leashing his dogs I told him that if his dogs came closer I would have to intervene, at which point Champ snapped at his Jackie. The owner told me to "leave them" and presumably sort themselves out. Gotta love leash free people. You'd think the red ribbons on our leash (which many people have recognised and use as a cue to avoid us with their doggies) would have provided this bloke with a clue.