High profile refs in mma - highly accomplished martial artists themselves

I just read that piece about mario and how he and his brother helped organize the ufc in brazil in 98 and that he is a 4th degree black belt in jits. It had me thinking, what about these other guys, are they all badasses?

Cecil was a karate champ in the 70's.

Herb Dean had some pro fights, even fought Joe Riggs.

what about josh Roenthal, big John, Yves lavigne, Mazz....what are their martial arts backgrounds and how accomplished were they before they started reffing.

 

Nothing surprising here. Most people gravitate towards fields related to their passion if at all possible. It's not surprising that many refs have a martial arts background.

 

I know Big John is a martial artist but not sure what exactly he's into... I think he might teach hand-to-hand combat at the police academy or something.

 

Bruce Buffer is also a black belt if I remember correctly.

 

Big John almost competed/considering competing in the early UFC's.

 

Yamasaki has a black belt in both bjj and judo.

Pretty surprising, seeing as he's a ref who's pretty quick to stand fighters up.

 

Here's Rosenthal explaining his experience/background:

http://fightland.vice.com/sitdowns/the-ref

 

I wouldn't call Herb Dean highly accomplished as a fighter.

 

Big John is just fucking huge, so you better not mess with him

 

Apparently, he has a fourth degree black belt in BJJ. Just goes to show that not everybody is biased towards their own discipline.

 

This video made my day :icon_chee

 

The fact that he's a pro fighter makes him a highly accomplished martial artist. What've you done?

 

He has an MMA training gym too, up in Maryland

 

Yeah I saw Herb Dean fight in King of the Cage. I think he won, but he didn't look very good hahah. Him and Yamasaki are my favorite refs though

 

Cecil Peoples.
all the way!

 

So basically, a lot more people are guilty of fighter bashing than they realize.

 

Steve Percival the Aussie ref has run one of the largest martial arts centre for years. He started teaching in 91 and holds a 4th Dan in Hapkido and a jujitsu black belt under the Will/Machida organisation. As we didn't have expert mma refs over here he trained under Big John.
http://www.ultimatefightingarts.com/About-Us.html

 

herb dean: 2-3. hardly what i would call "highly accomplished"

 

Big John trained under the Gracie's before UFC 1. He wanted to fight in it, but they wanted Royce to be the only BJJ fighter.

 

yamasaki could probably destroy a few fighters lol.