Ask the guy who just took the ABC refereeing/judging training

BenjaminDuffy

BenjaminDuffy

Mayor of Memory Lane
Staff member
Sherdog.com Staff
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
3,521
Reaction score
2,018
Hey! I just rolled back into town from taking the two-day training on MMA refereeing and judging provided by the Association of Boxing Commissions. (It was in Austin; I'm in Houston.) While the ABC itself doesn't certify or sanction judges or refs, this course is a preamble to getting certified by the NSAC, CSAC, TDLR, etc.

Attendees numbered about 50-55, and included a large crowd of people who planned to get into officiating, plus a half-dozen of the best-known refs/judges in Texas.

If anyone's curious, I'm here to answer any questions.

EDIT: I should have mentioned this off the top, but beyond simply taking the training, there was a test at the end. While the results won't be published for another week or so, I have good reason to believe I did well on it.
 
Last edited:
BenjaminDuffy said:
Hey! I just rolled back into town from taking the two-day training on MMA refereeing and judging provided by the Association of Boxing Commissions. (It was in Austin; I'm in Houston.) While the ABC itself doesn't certify or sanction judges or refs, this course is a preamble to getting certified by the NSAC, CSAC, TDLR, etc.

Attendees numbered about 50-55, and included a large crowd of people who planned to get into officiating, plus a half-dozen of the best-known refs/judges in Texas.

If anyone's curious, I'm here to answer any questions.
Click to expand...

I'm curious as to the pay if you have any kind of idea? I'm sure these guys who travel around constantly get well compensated and make 6 figures but for a ref or judge starting out, you're just grinding away at regional cards until you rack up enough experience to hopefully fill a slot for a bigger promotion when an opening or reference allows it?

If you have any kind of approximate idea of what the pay is like starting out at local shows and whatnot and how it scales up the ladder? I'd be interested in hearing about it honestly.
 
Did you bang Adelaide Byrd?
Is she just as hot in person?

NINTCHDBPICT000354271622.jpg
 
So, what's your next step towards being a judge or ref in the UFC, or at least for a regional promotion?
What will determine whether you become a judge or a ref? Or can people actually do both?
Can you think of something you learned about judging or reffing that is interesting, but most of us have no idea about?
Is how you view UFC refs and judges any different now, now that you've taken that course?
 
Serious Question:
was there any talk about needing to be competent? Like if you judge a fight or round for a guy who gets a TD with 15 seconds left after getting punched 100 time while landing zero is that OK cause its subjective or will you get admonished for being completely wrong?
 
under what circumstances do you stop a match and disqualify someone? intentional crotch shot or eye poke, Knee on downed opponent??? what about groin shots on women?? same as men? Can a competitor be disqualified for something a corner-man/woman did? IE spills bag of ice while exiting the cage causing extra time needed for clean up when their fighter is clearly the more gassed combatant?
 
Whats the difference in a warning and a hard warning?
 
TempleoftheDog said:
How was wall n stall, lay n pray, and takedowns that lead to absolutely no damage addressed? How about leg kicks, what was the word on those?
Click to expand...

On the refereeing front: Breaking up stalemate positions like wall-and-stall and lay-and-pray is subject to wide discretion by the referee.

For judges: Damage is paramount. Takedowns that do not lead to damage, either through ground strikes or legitimate submission attempts, count for nothing. Being on top in guard is not inherently an advantageous position; i.e. you're not winning just by being there.

Same for leg kicks: some of them are very damaging while others aren't. The judges' job is to decide whether, for example, Fighter A's leg kick had a greater impact than Fighter B's jab or right cross.
 
MartinGibson86 said:
Is blindness a requirement? Or will simply being "visually impaired" suffice?
Click to expand...

The course instructor (Kevin MacDonald in my case, but there are several officials who teach these) came back over and over again to the notion that the referee is not the doctor. Questions of whether a fighter is too physically impaired to continue, whether because of their vision or a cut or laceration, should always be passed to the cageside physician.
 
BenjaminDuffy said:
On the refereeing front: Breaking up stalemate positions like wall-and-stall and lay-and-pray is subject to wide discretion by the referee.

For judges: Damage is paramount. Takedowns that do not lead to damage, either through ground strikes or legitimate submission attempts, count for nothing. Being on top in guard is not inherently an advantageous position; i.e. you're not winning just by being there.

Same for leg kicks: some of them are very damaging while others aren't. The judges' job is to decide whether, for example, Fighter A's leg kick had a greater impact than Fighter B's jab or right cross.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I’d like to see control with no damage scored a lot less.
 
Tell us about the training. Was it classroom based? Were past fights or decisions used to illustrate an idea or drive group discussions?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,282,622
Messages
58,450,168
Members
176,041
Latest member
jaybuff

Share this page

Back
Top