Any Referees on the Site?

[Steve]

I've been getting more into reffing at the local BJJ/Grappling tournaments, and I really enjoy it. I like the intricacies of the sport, and really digging into the rules.

Last Saturday, I reffed all day at probably the biggest local tournament around. It was a blast. My first match was at 9:30 am and I think I finished up at about 4:00 pm with just a short break to catch lunch. I was flat out exhausted at the end of the day.

Overall, I consider it to be a very successful day. No bad calls I'm aware of. Nobody got irate at me, and while I've seen a few of the matches I reffed popping up on YouTube, none so far have titles like, "Referee Sucks/BAD CALL DUMBASS!!!"

Anyone else referee? I know we have a few competitors, but I'm curious how many have put on the striped shirt, so to speak.

 

[Buka]

I reffed a lot of sport Karate. Reffed a lot of kickboxing back in the day. Never did MMA, but one of my student has for ten years. I've judged some MMA, great gig - best seat in the house and they pay you. Never reffed grappling, wouldn't know how, but have competed in a couple Jiu-jitsu tournaments.

As for refereeing in general, tell you what I know -
Know the rules inside and out, be the authority on the rules, know more about them than anyone. Make the rules like your family Bible.
Control your ring. It is your house and you are the law. Be a FAIR law.

Everything else is ice cream.

 

[Tez3]

Reffed and judged MMA (pro male), enjoy the reffing but not the judging so much. It may be the best seat in the house but you can't watch the fights as if you were a spectator, you have to look at totally different things and evaluate them. I got a huge amount of advice from Marc Goddard who refs in UFC here, he believes that refs and judges should be trained not just picked from the promoters mates. He runs courses for MMA refs and judges here now.

 

[Steve]

I've been to the referee training run by the IBJJF. It's a one day thing that's offered around the Pan Ams and Mundials in California. It's comprehensive in that Alvaro Mansor goes through every single rule in the book, explaining the rule and what it looks like. He answers a lot of questions, too. But there's no practical training, so there's no replacement for actual experience.

The guy who runs the local tournaments does similar training prior to every event. His expectation is that the referees are knowledgeable in the sport, mostly purple belts and up.

Ultimately, the training really helps, but there are people who are just good refs. Some outstanding grapplers are terrible referees, just as some outstanding grapplers aren't great coaches.

I agree, Tez, that the best seat in the house isn't necessarily one that can be fully appreciated. While I had a terrific view of probably 50+ grappling matches last Saturday, I couldn't fully appreciate the beauty of the technique.

 

[Buka]

Reffed and judged MMA (pro male), enjoy the reffing but not the judging so much. It may be the best seat in the house but you can't watch the fights as if you were a spectator, you have to look at totally different things and evaluate them. I got a huge amount of advice from Marc Goddard who refs in UFC here, he believes that refs and judges should be trained not just picked from the promoters mates. He runs courses for MMA refs and judges here now.

Dead on the money with that post.

 

[Steve]

Dead on the money with that post.

Are refs for MMA routinely just picked from the promoter's mates in the UK? Here in the USA (birthplace of MMA ), the judges and refs are typically assigned by the commission, not the promotion. This is why Big John doesn't referee UFCs in Nevada, but can ref for them elsewhere.

I don't know about the judges, but the referees are consistently pretty good, in Washington and in national promotions. You'd have to get down to some unsanctioned fighting to find untrained/uncertified referees.

 

[Tez3]

Are refs for MMA routinely just picked from the promoter's mates in the UK? Here in the USA (birthplace of MMA ), the judges and refs are typically assigned by the commission, not the promotion. This is why Big John doesn't referee UFCs in Nevada, but can ref for them elsewhere.

I don't know about the judges, but the referees are consistently pretty good, in Washington and in national promotions. You'd have to get down to some unsanctioned fighting to find untrained/uncertified referees.

Birthplace of MMA my eye, that was Greece!

We have no ruling body for MMA here so anyone can put a fight night on with any ref and judges they want. Most use people like Marc, Grant Waterman who used to do Cage Rage and a few other very experienced people, quite often judges on the small shows will be promoters mates who judge it as if they were just watching it. Marc does the courses off his own bat to try and train people up, most promotions now will use someone who's been trained by him. He can't give any accreditation other than his word that the people he trains and passes his courses are good.
When the UFC is here they can use anyone they want even Americans!