{"id":1097321,"date":"2020-02-15T05:29:12","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T10:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1097321"},"modified":"2020-02-15T05:29:12","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T10:29:12","slug":"do-ufc-referees-know-how-to-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/do-ufc-referees-know-how-to-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Do UFC Referees Know How to Fight?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In every exciting UFC fight<\/a>, there are three people who actually matter. There are of course, the two people fighting, but there's also the referee<\/a>\u00a0who's ensuring that the fight is clean and fair. The UFC referee's job may be different than the fighter's job, but the refs still need to know how to fight<\/a> before they get inside the octagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UFC referee's job<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Before Dana White and his business associates bought the UFC<\/a>, the UFC was very different from the UFC of today. There were far fewer rules, and many people were severely injured as a result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Joe Son fought at UFC 4. In that fight, he was repeatedly punched in the groin until he lost the fight. In the modern UFC, he would've won that fight due to a disqualification.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the ref's job in modern UFC and MMA fights. Refs talk to the fighters backstage before the fight to inform them about the rules. Then, during the fight, the refs enforce the rules to the best of their ability. As John McCarthy, one of the UFC's most famous refs, told ESPN<\/a>, the ref's job is to “protect the fighters.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This usually means knowing when to stop the fight when one person is knocked out. But it could also mean knowing when someone has passed out from a chokehold. That said, refs can also make sure that the fighters actually fight<\/a>. That's rare, but sometimes, neither person wants to fight, so it's the ref's job to make sure that the fighters actually do their job in the octagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why a ref needs to know how to fight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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