As a UFC ref, what would you do, to help make the sport and fights the best they can be?

[HIMBOB]

First eye poke = One point taken

Second eye poke = DQ

^ Applies to fence grabs as well

Also, bring back yellow/red cards to force action. Wonderboy and Till both should've lost 30+% of their purses for their last fight, and same goes for Woodley vs WB II

What about nut shots, back the head, grabbing gloves, 12-6.

Imo fence grabs and eye poke can be accidental.

A point first time seems overly harsh.

I'd like something like soccer's yellow card system whereby a foul in your last match can count against you in the current one. IE no free eye poke.

 

[HaikenEdge]

mo fence grabs and eye poke can be accidental.

A point first time seems overly harsh.

The rules were went over with them in the locker room. They know the risks of what they're doing; if they want to do it anyways, that's on them.

I mean, some commissions have rules which say you can't even have horizontal open hands anymore.

 

[D'z]

One things for certain, everyone that complains about referee's, if they were a ref, there would be threads on how shitty a ref they are. To be a judge or ref, at best, you go unnoticed. Beyond that, it's going to be a negative response.

 

[beastman]

-Not say "action" if a fight is stalled out in the clinch or on the ground. I'd just break them up.

-1 warning, 2nd point deduction for fence grabbing

-If a fighter can't stand up because they have had their legs destroyed by kicks or are too fatigued, I'd waive it off TKO.

*That said, I'd never ref MMA. I reffed flag football and softball in college and it was annoying as hell. I can only imagine how bad an MMA fight would be.

 

[HIMBOB]

I don't like eye pokes but refs penalizing them harshly is risky as you will get guys Weidman and Koscheck faking eye pokes.

Needs to be an out of ring judge that can dock points.

 

[Reyes]

Not all UFC fights, but some might've deserved not being stopped earlier. Some warriors can really bounce back from being wrecked and then win awesomely.

If it was in the UFC, the legendary Nog/Sapp fight wouldn't at all been that great if Sapp won by ref stopping it as TKO early.

 

[fromTheAshes KoSkater]

a few 10 second counts would make it more fair perhaps

I see SO much criticism of perhaps the most important man in the cage, besides the fighters themselves - The MMA referee.

Either fights are stopped too early, or too late.

If you had the job of being the only man in the cage deciding when the fight might be stopped, or enforcing the rules, what would you do differently?

I for one, would watch tapes on the fighters I am going to ref, to see what their fighting styles and ability to absorb damage and persevere were.

If there was a fighter who was 'chinny' and prone to being being brutally KOed, I would take that into account, and be mindful to jump in, if they were taking serious head strikes.

On the flip side, if a fighter was a known, come-from-behind warrior, I would give him every chance to continue, as long as he was defending himself in a decent manner.

If I were reffing a guy notorious for fouling, I would make sure to re-enforce the rules with he and his team prior to the fight, and let them know that I will enforce those rules, via strict warnings, and points deducted, as necessary, then I would follow through with it.


If you had a shot at being the 3rd man in the ring, what would you do differently to the current top refs? What aspects of their game would you incorporate?

 

[ThulsaDooom]

The refs take far too much crap for what is a very difficult job. It doesn't help they have to contend with different rules in every state. It certainly doesn't help when Dana's bloated ass comes out for a press conference and trashes referees. You rarely see that, if ever, from other professional sports leagues. Coaches, sure that's fair enough if they want to criticize the reffing but the face of other sports organizations never do that. They're smarter than that.

Instant point deduction for rule violations, be it eye pokes, fence grabs, groin shots, etc. I shouldn't need to warn the fighter, since I already went over the rules with them in the locker room.

I'd err on the side of caution and fighter safety when stopping fights, but I'd also warn defending fighters they need to put up an intelligent defense if they're in jeopardy of having the fight stopped due to TKO. I'd say 3-4 strikes that aren't defended intelligently is enough to stop the fight; there's no need for a guy to eat 10-15 shots when they're not even defending themselves.

Yes. An early stoppage is always, always better than this bullshit machismo "let him go out on his shield" late stoppage crap some people seem to want to see. But then you've got Dana's bloated ass calling you the worst ref in the world which doesn't help the refs in any way whatsoever.

 

[aerius]

I'd ref like Steve Perceval, the fights will be violent, bloody, and awesome and no one will ever complain about an early stoppage.
Some fighter careers will get ended early though, but sacrifices have to be made for the Just Bleed God.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

I'd deduct points for timidity and wouldn't call kicks/knees to a downed opponent or 12-6 elbows as fouls.

 

[HaikenEdge]

Yes. An early stoppage is always, always better than this bullshit machismo "let him go out on his shield" late stoppage crap some people seem to want to see. But then you've got Dana's bloated ass calling you the worst ref in the world which doesn't help the refs in any way whatsoever.

As a ref, I wouldn't be beholden to Dana White; I'd behold to the commission employing me, and the fighters' whose safety I've been charged with protecting.

Dana White can trash me in the media all he wants; as long as the commission backs me, I wouldn't care. I mean, I wouldn't care if a dog on a leash barked at me from the front yard when I'm walking by, so why should I care if a blowhard who doesn't even care about the rules blows his top over decisions he only cares about because it affects his product. The quality of his product isn't my problem as a referee; my responsibility would be ensuring the bout was within the rules and the fighters are safe (or at least as safe as they can be in a sport where they're trying to knock each other unconscious and break each other's bodies).

 

[neverwas]

to the death, if they still moving,teres a chance they might make a come back.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Pretty much what everyone else said.. I would be quicker to take points away for constant eyepokes, and no 2nd warning.

It seems like you can do 100+ eyepokes in UFC fights and just keep getting warnings.

 

[RampageFaction]

I hate when a fighter is fouled and the ref doesn't see it. They should have another ref manning the instant replay. Usually when the ref misses a poke the fighter is not immediatey KO'd or stopped in the aftermath. As soon as the replay pops up for the second ref and he sees a clear foul, call for a break. I'd even support asking the foulER if he committed a foul when the ref doesn't see it. Don't stop the fight, just ask him, "did you poke him?" If he says no let the fight continue. When the replay shows he did foul, call for a break and take a point. Maybe this will encourage guys to be honest when they commit a foul. Refs have a hard job. The only time I feel justified in criticizing a ref is stopping a fight too LATE.

 

[Son of Werdum]

After a fighter gets eye poked he gets to eye poke the other guy back.

Ref holds his arms behind his back and one of these is put on his head:

 

[HIMBOB]

The rules were went over with them in the locker room. They know the risks of what they're doing; if they want to do it anyways, that's on them.

I mean, some commissions have rules which say you can't even have horizontal open hands anymore.

It's not that simple. I've been eye poked in a fight, it hurt for 30 seconds but awarding a point deduction would have been overkill.

Shit happens, it should not always result in a point deduction, however when recklessness or deliberate style (Jones) results in an eye poke in basically every other round he fights you need to do something real.

 

[DrunkMonkMeth]

Any fighter attempting to lnp would get stood up instantly.m and id remember which fighter make little action on the ground.

 

[TheRassler]

Stalling and lay n pray wouldn’t happen under my watch.

Point deductions and stand ups for all fighters who implement these gameplans.

 

[HaikenEdge]

It's not that simple. I've been eye poked in a fight, it hurt for 30 seconds but awarding a point deduction would have been overkill.

It is that simple. They already knew it was against the rules, and they did it anyways. Within the rules, that's a point deduction. You don't want to lose a point? There are a lot of things you can do that stop you from poking somebody in the eye, like not putting an open had near your opponent's face. Remember, there's no penalty for punching them in the eye.

 

[HIMBOB]

It is that simple. They already knew it was against the rules, and they did it anyways. Within the rules, that's a point deduction. You don't want to lose a point? There are a lot of things you can do that stop you from poking somebody in the eye, like not putting an open had near your opponent's face. Remember, there's no penalty for punching them in the eye.

It was an accident.

It was not deliberate, reckless or worthy of punishment.

If it egregious, sure a point deduction with no warning is fair. But you need some ability to scale punishment between a random accident and deliberate act.