After that conversation, I knew my relationship with the UFC had changed forever. I was raised to hit back harder when someone hit me. It might be a great way for a kid or for an adult destined for jail to handle things, but the civilized world is made up of much smarter people than me.
When the UFC pulled away from me, one of the smarter people who tried to advise me was Marc Ratner, who’d retired from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and taken a job as Zuffa’s vice president of regulatory affairs. I’ve always admired and respected Marc as an even-tempered man able to complete just about any task because of how smart he is. I appreciated that Marc never gave up on me.
Corey Schafer, who heads up an MMA and kickboxing sanctioning body called the ISKA, is another one of those guys who’s smarter than me. Corey showed me that just because someone says something about you doesn’t mean you have to react immediately. He taught me to be smart and look at what I’d done that could have brought about this response, analyze it, and then figure out how to make it right for everyone. I have to admit I’m still working on it, but I hope to someday live up to Corey’s example.
It’s taken me a long time to be able to say this, but I now take full responsibility for what happened between me and Zuffa.
Being an analyst for TFN wasn’t easy for me. After every questionable referee stoppage or judges’ decision, my phone would ring off the hook with reporters looking for comments. As a referee, I’d tried not to speak judgmentally about my colleagues. But I wasn’t a referee anymore. I was hired and paid to give my opinions and impressions and was expected to do my job. Doing this without upsetting some people proved difficult.
I also figured that if I spoke truthfully, maybe it would improve things. But when I suggested that some officials were being assigned to MMA events they were vastly under-qualified for, it alienated me with a few athletic commissions.
My time away from refereeing was probably one of the harder periods of my life. I’d cut something out that I’d really enjoyed and taken pride in. I would sit at home and watch events and get angry when a referee would get a call wrong or not remember a rule correctly.
In the fall of 2009, I started to think about returning to refereeing. Then I began to talk to Elaine about it. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to return, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was where I truly belonged.
The Fight Network made it a much easier decision for me in the end. The channel went through a drastic change in leadership, and its cash flow issues only mounted. My paychecks were delayed, then stopped coming altogether. In October of 2009, I resigned from the company.
I owe a debt of gratitude to the California State Athletic Commission for taking me back into the fold as quickly as they did. My return engagement to the cage came at Strikeforce “Destruction” on November 21, 2008, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
I don’t mean to sound cliché, but it felt like I’d never left. The other referees, judges, and backstage officials all welcomed me back with enthusiasm as I went about my regular routine that night before the fights started. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to have me around again, which was a good feeling.
Strikeforce was a Bay Area promotion that used a lot of local talent, so I didn’t know every fighter. In the locker rooms, I took a knee to go over the rules with each fighter stretching and warming up on the mat. I tried to make them feel at ease, as I’d always done. If a fighter was nervous and made a joke, I’d come right back with humor. If he seemed a little in awe of the situation, I talked to him until I felt he’d absorbed the instructions.
Then I walked out into the arena and did my job. It wasn’t different from the hundreds of nights I’d refereed before, except for one thing: after one of the bouts, as I went to raise the fighter’s hand, he turned and gave me a big hug. It was totally unexpected. I felt better already.
The welcome back I got in California wasn’t felt everywhere. It became clear over the next few months that the UFC preferred I not referee at their events. When Zuffa took the show abroad and could bring along any officials it wanted, the UFC didn’t call me, which was really no surprise.
There wasn’t much I could do but be grateful for the assignments I did get and perform them as well as I could. Slowly but surely, I began to get calls from a number of jurisdictions new to the game. I found myself traveling to the Midwest, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and even China to referee MMA events of all sizes.
In February of 2009, Strikeforce, that local San Jose promotion that had put on only five or six events a year, signed into a multi-year broadcast deal with Showtime to put on three times as many shows. This made them the closest thing the UFC had to a competitor, and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker began to request me for his events with the commissions. I was grateful for Scott’s belief in my talents.
By April, I was refereeing my first Strikeforce bout on Showtime. In November, I officiated the main event at Strikeforce/M-1 Global’s “Fedor vs. Rogers” outside Chicago, which broadcasted live on CBS.
This would be my second time refereeing one of Fedor Emelianenko’s fights, something I probably wouldn’t have been able to do had I stayed aligned with the UFC the way I had until 2007.
I’ve had the privilege of refereeing many of the greats in MMA. I’ve admired the way fighters like Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Georges St. Pierre, B. J. Penn, and Anderson Silva have handled themselves in and out of the cage. For them, it isn’t about anger or ego. It’s about competition. No one can go out there and perform well 100 percent of the time, but these guys are all consistent.
STRIKEFORCE
“Nashville”
April 17, 2010
Bridgestone Arena
Nashville, Tennessee
Bouts I Reffed:
Dan Henderson vs. Jake Shields
Zach Underwood vs. Hunter Worsham
Gegard Mousasi vs. Muhammed Lawal
I knew time had truly flown when I found myself refereeing the son of a fighter I’d officiated for fifteen years prior. It wouldn’t be the last time I’d referee for a father and his son, either.
History was doomed to repeat itself when an in-cage altercation broke out between Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Jake Shields’ team after the main event on CBS. Miller entered the cage on his own and pushed Shields to try and ignite a rematch, but teammates Nate and Nick Diaz, Gil Melendez, and others jumped in and fists started flying. We managed to break it up, but it came at a price—CBS wouldn’t broadcast another Strikeforce event after that.
Fedor Emelianenko is another fighter I admire. If you’re a boxing referee, you want to say you got to do a Muhammad Ali fight. The equivalent in MMA would be Emelianenko.
During my one-year retirement, I’d actually had the opportunity to grapple with Emelianenko as part of a demonstration for National Geographic Channel’s Fight Science series. Scientists wanted to test the fighter’s choking force compared to that of a hungry Burmese python. Before Emelianenko squeezed the test dummy’s neck against his forearm, he got to demonstrate the move on this dummy for the cameras. I’d watched Emelianenko establish himself as one of the greatest fighters of the modern era, so I knew there had to be something special about him. With some of the submissions he pulled off, I figured he had to be really strong. And I don’t mean in terms of what he could bench-press; I mean brute strength.
We didn’t roll hard. When I grabbed him, he went to move his wrist and I felt like I could hold on to it if I wanted to. But it was quickly clear that Emelianenko’s advantage wasn’t about strength. He’s super fast—especially for a heavyweight—and explodes into the movement. Eventually he catches you in a mistake and gets you where he wants you. I’m just glad what we did was for fun, because truly fighting Fedor Emelianenko would’ve been far from what I’d call enjoyable.
Because Emelianenko had turned down a UFC contract and fought in the smaller rival Strikeforce promotion instead, I would get to referee three of his fights in the United States. I was i
nches away when he tapped out to Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Fabricio Werdum’s armbar-triangle choke combination at Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Werdum,” on June 26, 2010, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It was Emelianenko’s first loss in twenty-nine fights and nearly a decade, and he handled it with such professionalism and grace.
I never care which fighter wins. However, I can’t help but have a lot of admiration for many of them, Emelianenko included.
That July, I was surprised when I got the call from George Dodd, the new executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission.
After meeting George and seeing where he came from, I knew he was an honest man, and I told him that I’d always be up-front with him. George asked why he was being told that I’d said negative things about the UFC and had a grudge against them. I told him about the interview and encouraged him to listen to it himself and make up his own mind about it.
Shortly after, he gave me an assignment to officiate the UFC’s second live event for the Versus channel on August 1, 2010, in San Diego. A few UFCs had come and gone in California since I’d returned to officiating, and I hadn’t been assigned to any of them under the previous executive officer’s command. I assumed I’d never referee a UFC event in my home state again.
It had been nearly three years since I’d stepped into the Octagon, and some MMA media had made noise about why it had taken so long. After all this time, I tried to think it wasn’t a big deal to be returning. However, Elaine’s mind raced that this might be a first step toward some kind of reconciliation. I didn’t think that would be the case at all. I knew I wasn’t wanted by the people who are most important within the Zuffa headquarters: Lorenzo and Dana. I wasn’t completely sure about Lorenzo, but one of the best things about Dana is that he has no problem saying how he feels, and he had said enough for me to know I wouldn’t be a welcome addition.
At the show, I went about my normal business. It was great to see some of the UFC employees I hadn’t spoken to in a while, including event coordinator Burt Watson.
On one of my walks from the locker rooms back to the arena floor, I passed Dana in the hallway. He hadn’t spoken kindly of me publicly the last few years, and now he was standing right in front of me. Before he could say anything, I said, “Dana, thank you for everything you’ve done for the sport and for me in the past. It didn’t go unnoticed. I just wanted to tell you that.”
I shook his hand as he said, “Thank you,” and I continued on my way to sit cageside with the other commission employees.
I can positively say my brief exchange with Dana wasn’t planned and was absolutely sincere. Whatever there was between Dana and me didn’t change the fact that he, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, and Zuffa’s dedicated staff had an immense hand in saving MMA from extinction.
Maybe I’d thought this could be the last time I’d speak to Dana, and I wanted him to know I’d never stopped being grateful.
One of the frequently asked questions I get nowadays is “Do you have any hard feelings toward the UFC?”
The truthful answer is I never have. I spent many years trying to get people to understand the UFC and mixed martial arts for the competition it is. When everyone said the UFC was going to die, I fought to keep interest alive. When everyone told me to leave the organization I believed in, I stayed.
I never owned any part of the UFC, but I always felt like I was a part of it. Eventually that feeling kind of went away. Was that my own fault? Maybe.
I made the decision to leave on my own. Zuffa stayed loyal to me the whole time, though back then I thought Lorenzo and Dana wouldn’t be able to back me up forever.
I read the crystal ball wrong. I made the wrong call.
Sometimes you have to gamble big to understand the game. My big payoff out of all of this was wisdom, and you know what? That’s okay. I figured out what really counts.
STRIKEFORCE
“Henderson vs. Babalu 2”
December 4, 2010
Scottrade Center
St. Louis, Missouri
Bouts I Reffed:
Justin Lawrence vs. Max Martyniouk
Antonio Silva vs. Mike Kyle
Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith
Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Dan Henderson
It was a night of devastation—the last three main card bouts ended with first-round knockouts, something rare for a big event.
In the main event, Henderson connected with his big right hand. Sobral shot for a takedown on the two-time Olympic wrestler. When that failed, Sobral pulled Henderson into his guard. When Henderson landed another big punch, Sobral was struggling to stay in it, but I knew he was done. It was one of those fights I wanted to stop right then, but I had to let it play out. Henderson landed another punch, and it was all over.
What makes life great is the experiences you have. Usually they involve other people, and the memories can never be taken away. I always say if you can count your real friends on one hand, you’re doing pretty good.
When you’re young, everything is about what you have. When you get older and realize what’s important, everything is about what you do and how you do it.
There was a time when I did everything in my power to be at every UFC because I thought it was that important. I can admit now that sometimes my priorities were screwed up.
I missed many things I should have been at. I left my family in the middle of a vacation because I was asked to be at a commission meeting to help get MMA regulated. I missed my son’s high school graduation because I felt like I needed to be at a UFC. I felt like I owed the UFC, Zuffa, and Dana.
I used to think the greatest compliment I could receive was from the fighters when they’d say, “I’ve waited my whole career to have you referee my fight,” or when they specifically requested me as their referee. But more than any affirmations I could get from any fighter, more than any rules I wrote or any historic bouts I got to officiate, the greatest accomplishment in my life is my family.
I’m overjoyed that my sons, Ron and Johnny, are the honorable people they are and that my daughter is trying to do good things with her life in the military. I have a wonderful wife who cares about me—not about what we have or where we’re going next. She just wants to be together. That’s what counts.
In the last few years, Zuffa has taken the UFC to heights I wouldn’t have dreamed possible. In March of 2011, they purchased their closest rival, Strikeforce, uniting 90 percent of the world’s greatest MMA talent under one roof. As they predicted they would, they have truly become the league of the sport.
In the last couple years, I’ve refereed over 1,000 fights, twice as many as I had from the beginning of my career in 1994 until I retired in 2007. I don’t officiate every big fight anymore, but I’ve gotten to see something better in a way. I’ve observed the sport’s grassroots movement firsthand, and I know MMA is not only going to survive; it’s going to flourish, expand, and become one of the biggest sports in the world.
Fan letters like this always put a smile on my face.
It’s a great thing to see a promotion providing a positive environment for new fighters and putting out a strong product for the fans. It’s also exciting to see kids that I know will make it.
On the other hand, I’ve watched a referee make a bad call or seen judges give a win to the wrong guy, breaking the spirit of a kid who should have won but will never fight again. That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to keep from happening.
When commissions asked me to come and teach other referees back in 2004, I resisted, thinking, Why would I teach your guys to take my job?
I quickly realized I was being shortsighted. They weren’t going to take my job, and if I didn’t referee every big fight, it wasn’t the end of the world. It was right to share what I’d been privileged enough to learn along the way.
My three-day COMMAND courses have evolved so much over the last few years. At first, I know I crammed too much information in for anyone to retain it all, but I learn
ed to manage time and focus on the crucial information. In turn, I know I’m now a better referee than I ever was before, because I’m drilling the important information into my students, which also drills it into me. I’m proud of the fact that many of my students have gone on to work major MMA shows, including for the UFC, Strikeforce, WEC, and others.
Now I’m working at having instructors available to teach classes all over the world. My main goal is to have the same information being communicated to every MMA official everywhere. Every time I teach now, I bring along another instructor, Jerin Valel, who completed both my referee and judging courses by March of 2009.
Valel, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, had already been licensed as a referee in the Canadian province Manitoba with over 100 bouts under his belt, but he sought out the courses to improve. I could tell Valel was an exceptional student because of the questions he asked in class, so when he called me a few months later to ask how he could become a certified instructor, I listened.
Valel spent the next sixteen months traveling from Manitoba to Valencia on his own dime and earned the teaching certification in August of 2010. He referees in his province and has made it onto some of the bigger shows throughout Canada. He’s a phenomenal representative for COMMAND and also for the future of officiating in MMA.
Let’s Get It On! Page 35