Issue 108

December 2013

An MMA referee for 12 years, Mario Yamasaki has black belts in judo and BJJ. Each issue he discusses the hottest topics in the sport through the eyes of an official. Studying other combat sports canonly make you a better MMA referee.

When it comes to being a referee, there is nothing more important than the safety of fighters. And it’s with that tenet in mind that I’ve just returned from the Association of Boxing Commissions’ (ABC) annual conference, and thought it would be good idea to give you some updates on what transpired while I was there.

Regular readers of my column will have seen me refer to this organization previously, but for those of you who are unaware, the ABC is the governing body of all the athletic commissions that regulate combative sports in North America. Its members are responsible for all the officials, rules and the handing out of licenses to would-be referees within the sports they oversee.

Once a year the commissioners meet for a few days to discuss the important current issues; but it also gives us officials the chance to partake in training sessions presented by different instructors, from a range of combat sports, in order to fine tune our skills and procedures. This year the conference was held in San Antonio, Texas, on the historic River Walk, and the Lone Star State did a great job in hosting the conference.

I’ve worked with many of these commissioners before, so it is a bit of a reunion for me, meeting everyone again. I also had the opportunity to present my own officials’ workshop a few years ago when the conference was held in Washington DC. But this year I went to the conference with the express aim of attending the MMA training workshop. 

As I alluded to earlier, I feel that no matter how secure you feel with your own knowledge, it is vital to always be learning and looking at how others view the sport.

But when I got to the conference, commissioner Dale Kliparchuk suggested that it might be a better idea if I attended the boxing workshop – both judging and refereeing – as a way of thinking outside the box. 

Now, I am not a boxing judge or indeed a boxing referee, but these workshops were being presented by Duane Ford and Jay Nady, respectively, both of whom have judged and refereed extensively, and are two of the best in the business with the most impeccable credentials. I also devoted an article several months ago to the benefits of cross-training as an official, and highlighted the attributes you can take from other disciplines and apply to your own craft. Since MMA in terms of judging and refereeing owes a bit to boxing, I felt it would be interesting to see what I could learn.

The first day was with Duane Ford, and within just one minute of the class starting he’d handed out score cards and had us judging boxing videos. But how hard could it be, I hear you ask? 

Well, after the first few minutes it had become quite obvious that most of us in the room were in over our heads, and that analyzing a sport where only punches were thrown was going to be quite a challenge. And when he reviewed the first set of judges’ marks the scores were all over the place; some students had one fighter winning, while others had the opposite fighter as the victor. 

Thankfully Mr Ford was a patient man and told us that by the end of the course he’d make sure we were all watching and scoring the same thing, and that our scores would be in alignment. And by the end of the day he’d achieved his goal: the class had come together and we were effectively scoring fights as professionals.

The second day was refereeing, with Jay Nady, who has officiated several thousand fights, including some of the most prestigious boxing bouts in history. Mr Nady is a former US army officer, which soon became obvious because he expected true professionalism and total commitment from all his students. 

And I’m really pleased I went on his course because it reinforced one of my strongest beliefs as an MMA official: the safety of the fighter is of primary importance, and this is achieved by understanding and enforcing the rules.

In retrospect, attending both the boxing workshops was a great experience and can only make me a better MMA official. Bruce Lee apparently once said, ‘Absorb what is useful and discard what isn’t. Add what is uniquely your own.’ And those words really resonated with me over the summer as I endeavored to widen my knowledge and skill-sets.