Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [106]
The board was concerned about the slams and throws that were acceptable in MMA, but we’d prepared a DVD that demonstrated all of these moves happening in the 1996 Olympics in the judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling competitions. Nobody could argue with the DVD.
We also discussed weight divisions, and the board expanded the list from three to the eight main weight classes utilized in the sport today. The heavyweight division was a sticking point, though, as it started at 205.1 pounds and had no cutoff. The physician requested that the heavyweight division be capped at 265 pounds and that fighters over that mark fall into a super heavyweight division. This seemed acceptable to all of the United States promoters in the room.
The Japanese representatives from Pride, Kanda and Yamamoto, didn’t say a word the whole time until the subject of clothing and shoes was brought up. On the Japanese MMA scene, gis, leggings, and wrestling shoes were widely accepted, so they wanted them kept in.
However, Commissioner Hazzard was adamantly opposed. “I don’t want shoes in the ring at all,” he said, even after we explained that these were the lighter wrestling shoes. “There will be no gis,” he added. “The fighters will wear shorts, cups, and gloves—that’s it.”
I can’t imagine Pride’s Kanda and Yamamoto were too pleased with this. The new fighter uniform was but another detail that would make it more difficult to bring their product to the United States.
Round duration was another big issue for Pride. While the United States had officially adopted three five-minute rounds as the standard, Japanese MMA preferred a ten-minute first round, then two additional five-minute rounds to allow grapplers more time to work their game. However, the ten-five-five-round system wouldn’t be allowed in New Jersey.
By the end of the meeting, Zuffa had gotten pretty much everything it had hoped for, as the NJSACB didn’t veer too far from what the UFC had already been doing. No kneeing or kicking the head of a downed opponent remained in the new set of Unified Rules, while Pride would continue to allow them in Japan.
In addition, the NJSACB approved four-to-eight-ounce fighter gloves after inspecting a sample of each pair brought to the meeting. NJSACB legal counsel Nick Lembo, whom Hazzard put in charge of MMA regulation in the state, was tasked with getting down all of these rules and changes—what became known as the Unified Rules of MMA.
The sport’s passage in New Jersey made me reflect on how I presented myself on the job. I’d always tried to be as professional as I could, but now I knew I had to watch my fraternization with the fighters.
From the early UFCs until now, I’d rolled and trained with them at events. My thirst for jiu-jitsu hadn’t subsided when I’d left Rorion Gracie’s gym in 1995. I’d continued to study with other respected Southern California black belts like Joe Moreira and Jean Jacques Machado and had worked my way up to brown belt status over the years. As we’d waited for shows, we’d all gravitated to the gyms or workout areas provided in the hotel, exchanged techniques, and goofed around. I’d rolled with anybody who’d wanted to, experiencing the moves I’d have to identify and anticipate while refereeing.
Because everyone at a UFC event shared a common passion, it would also be a normal occurrence for me and Elaine to have dinner with some of the fighters and their camps.
I understood those days were now over. It wasn’t as if rolling with fighters or eating dinner with them would sway me in the cage, but I understood it was up to me to protect the image of fair officiating in the sport. That didn’t mean I had to be stern or cut myself off from everyone, but my interactions had to be on a professional level only.
At the surprise fortieth birthday party my wife threw me—when Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were still friends
With the newly minted Unified Rules, UFC 31 “Locked