Comments on: Dana White on Mazzagatti: ‘That referee has no business being in this business’

By: edub

edub — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:30:20 +0000

I agree to a point JJ.

The referees were talking about have more like 4 or 5 unacceptable performances in side of 20.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: JJ Docker

JJ Docker — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:55:43 +0000

“It’s so easy to be a Monday morning QB but in all reality, there’s only 1 ref in the cage and they don’t have the convenience of 10 ringside camaras, slow motion and replays. Refs have 1 angle and one angle only, not 10 diferent angles and slowmo. It’s much easier when we see it on replay but these guys do it in real time and have one shot to get it right. While they ALL screw up once in a while, the guys that we see on a regular basis are, in most cases, the cream of the crop.”

Agreed. There are mistakes from any kinds of officials in every sport in the world, it’s human nature. Although some MMA referee’s are worse than others, and all of them could improve, in general, I find the standard of refereeing in MMA at the very least acceptable and we should probably give them less stick for a poor mistake once every 20 fights and recognize their solid performances in the other 19.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: edub

edub — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:45:30 +0000

The state athletic commissions need to a better job of training referees and judges hands down. But it wont happen. There will always be mistakes while the athletic comissions we have in place now are still in power. They seem to turn a blind eye to all the mistakes and bad decisions.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: AK47

AK47 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:14:46 +0000

Why are people still whining about the Mir/Lesnar fight? What Brock did was illegal whether it looked like he was going to win the fight or not. The referee isn’t required to warn a fighter who is breaking the rules, and by all means should not if it has caused the fighter to gain an advantage. The fighters know the rules and shouldn’t expect to get a warning whenever they break them. I would say the more egregious faults on the part of referees in the last year have been the Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson stoppage or Herb Dean subtracting a point for the elbow to the “back” of the head on Nate Marquardt.

Like or Dislike: 0 1

By: gatorbones12

gatorbones12 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:34:39 +0000

It’s so easy to be a Monday morning QB but in all reality, there’s only 1 ref in the cage and they don’t have the convenience of 10 ringside camaras, slow motion and replays. Refs have 1 angle and one angle only, not 10 diferent angles and slowmo. It’s much easier when we see it on replay but these guys do it in real time and have one shot to get it right. While they ALL screw up once in a while, the guys that we see on a regular basis are, in most cases, the cream of the crop.
Mazzigati’s worst moment was obviously the Mir/Lesnar fight, but overall he is a very good ref and in the thousands of matches he’s reffed, in and out of the UFC, he’s done an excellent job and is still improving. One example of this is that he used to stand guys up way too soon while they battled for dominant position, now he lets them battle longer to advance position prior to standing them up. Other refs still don’t understand this is an intregal part of the sport and if they don’t see a good attempt at causing great bodily harm-even if just temporary while trying to improve position to allow them to do damage- they stand the fighters up. While their reason is to increase action, it usually has the opposite affect as the bottom fighter will do nothing but squeeze and hug to get the stand up every time he is taken down. That is a very subjective aspect of the sport, but one that can change the outcome of a fight. Knowing when to stand fighters up and when to stop fights are 2 very important, yet subjective parts of reffering that refs should be judged on. It is not fair to pick a moment in one fight out of thousands that a ref misses an eye poke, a cage grab or a low blow. They can only be in one place at one time and it is simply not possible to view everything. I’ve seen even the “best ref in the history of the sport” (which I completely agree with), Big John, miss infractions on several occassions…it’s just not possible for a ref to be perfect.
And no, I’m not a ref.

Like or Dislike: 0 1

By: meatloaf

meatloaf — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:16:58 +0000

They’re not “UFC” referees they work for the State athletic commissions.

If the UFC could hire and fire the referees Dana would have fired Mazzagatti after the first Mir/Lesnar fight.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: TerribleT

TerribleT — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:26:53 +0000

Everyone of the UFC referees have made questionable calls.Most of the time it’s when a fighter suffers a flash knockdown and one of UFC refs overreacts and stops the fight immediately which happens far to often IMO.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: Mbreckles49

Mbreckles49 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:20:36 +0000

One thing needs to be addressed with reffing is holding onto the cage. There’s always warnings and never any point deductions. People take the verbal warning and break the rule to save their ass.

Personally, you should be able to hold on to the cage. What’s the point of having a fence-like structure if you’re not allowed to touch it?

Like or Dislike: 0 0

By: madheartmma

madheartmma — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:26:13 +0000

Big John McCarthy A+,MARIO YAM??S?KI A-, Herb Dean B+,YVES LAVI?G C++,Dan Miragliotta C-, Mazzagatti F+,

Like or Dislike: 1 0

By: PlagueAngel

PlagueAngel — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:23:05 +0000

Why is everyone shocked at the backlash on Mazzagatti? Lots of fighters have expressed concern over his actions including recently Kenny Florian. Now we have Anthony Johnson(eye pokes), Al Turk(beatdown), lesnar(point deduction). I think all these including Dana White’s opinion indicate that something has to be done. I guess if Cecil Peoples still has a job(which is insane) judging, then Mazzagatti should feel safe.

Like or Dislike: 2 0