Issue 147

November 2016

Opportunities in life come when preparation, dedication and chance combine

At UFC 200, I brought together UFC featherweight title rivals José Aldo and Frankie Edgar to touch gloves. I was the first British referee ever to be granted a license by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and to return to the fight capital of the world for this occasion was mind blowing. Yet when you’re in the moment it honestly just feels like any other night. My mind was squarely on the job at hand.

Of course, it wasn’t just any night of fights. The card assembled meant the event would be the biggest in the company’s history. So to stand in the Octagon in Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena and be assigned a world-title fight is up near the top of my list of proudest moments as an official. 

However, I’d like to illustrate it’s not always what you see on TV that paints the whole picture. Sure I am honored, privileged and grateful for the opportunity to participate in these great moments in MMA history. But it’s arrived after years of commitment and dedication to this sport – at times, in quite trying circumstances. 

Traveling home alone from working men’s clubs, YMCAs and dingy nightclubs with low pay, sometimes no pay, and spending more on gas than I earned. Altercations with promoters – usually stemming from correcting their bad practice. Events with more fights outside of the cage than in. Offering your services, sometimes for free, to gain the experience needed. 

I once walked away from a show before it even began because the lighting rig and nightclub ceiling were level with the top of the cage. The promoter’s response: “Can’t we just tell the fighters there’s no high kicks, throws or pick-ups?” I shook his hand, wished him luck and walked away. 

Another time that sticks with me is having to deal with a particularly large crowd of people of Traveller descent who were all supporting one of their own, and having to stop the fight until every single person had walked back from the fighting area and retaken their seats. 

It’s been tough, but all of these experiences are invaluable and irreplaceable for cutting your teeth and learning your trade from the very bottom up, while carving out and demonstrating why you are different from the rest. 

I’ve done it all and the road is long – very long. I’ve witnessed dangerous practice, knowing I wanted no part of it, I would always speak up and let it be known and I quickly gained a reputation that has since paid me back tenfold. Many years after opting to always do what is right and not what is easy, my attitude towards athlete safety first and foremost has got me to where I am today. 

Nobody deserves to jump straight in at the top, regardless of the industry. Time and experience is one thing that can never be bypassed or copied. I truly believe that opportunity is where chance meets preparation. And if you apply your dedication then your dream career and lifestyle is out there waiting for you too.

First Test

In at the deep end

My first refereeing assignment was in 2004. It was accidental, as I was due to fight and got injured and was asked to jump In last-minute – zero prep and zero time to say no. I think I refereed about five bouts and got paid a grand total of $0.