Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [117]
With Zuffa at the helm, the UFC weathered the ship to a promotional milestone: its tenth anniversary. When I’d taken my place in the Octagon the first time, I wouldn’t have believed the UFC would be around a decade. But here we were, 50 shows and over 400 fights later at UFC 45 “Revolution,” on November 21, 2003, at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. This monumental achievement for MMA wasn’t recognized at all by the mainstream media, but I can tell you that many people in the arena had helped ensure the UFC’s survival and realized the night’s importance.
Zuffa added some nice touches to make the event special. The promotion introduced the UFC Hall of Fame and inducted its first members, the deserving Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock. Zuffa also created a viewers’ choice award for fans to vote for the UFC’s ten most popular fighters of all time. Randy Couture, high off his unlikely wins over Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, was voted number one and was joined by Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Tank Abbott, Mark Coleman, Pat Miletich, Marco Ruas, Dan Severn, Don Frye, and Oleg Taktarov.
It’s a shame that this honorable tone was fleeting.
UFC 44
“Undisputed”
September 26, 2003
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bouts I Reffed:
Josh Thomson vs. Gerald Strebendt
Tim Sylvia vs. Gan McGee
Randy Couture vs. Tito Ortiz
The light heavyweight championship bout between Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture went the distance, and Couture started spanking Ortiz’s ass in the final round for comical effect when he had him stacked and trapped on the fence. Many thought Couture was tapping out. Good thing I could easily see Ortiz had no legit hold on Couture, so I didn’t intervene.
In the fifth fight of the night, there was a miscommunication between fighter Phil Baroni and one of the other referees, Larry Landless. Baroni, a passionate middleweight from New York, had been beating the piss out of opponent Evan Tanner, until Baroni got too tired. Tanner came back and eventually mounted Baroni, where he started to unload punches and elbows on his trapped opponent.
In that tense moment, Landless asked Baroni if he wanted out.
Baroni thought the referee had asked if he was okay and answered, “Yes.”
Landless jumped in to halt the fight.
Baroni was so upset that he took two swings at Landless from his back.
Swinging at an official is unacceptable in any sport, and it can be especially dangerous in combat sports. Though Landless wasn’t injured, Baroni’s actions caused quite an uproar.
It also led to discussions between officials about when and how they should address fighters during a bout. I’d expressed only statements, not questions, to fighters. Honestly, I’d never considered why until that night. That’s when I realized you couldn’t expect a guy to fight and answer questions at the same time.
The night wasn’t over yet, though. In the next fight, one of the worst things that could happen to a fledgling sport happened: a riot broke out in the cage between the fighters and their camps.
Tank Abbott and Wesley “Cabbage” Correira had bad intentions from the start. They started swinging at one another in a frenzy, but as usual Abbott ran out of gas pretty fast. He’d also been cut over his eye in the first round by one of Correira’s knees, and blood was dripping down his face. Abbott was exhaling so hard that he was blowing blood into Correira’s face, affecting his vision as well.
I didn’t believe the doctor was going to stop the fight, so I stepped in, thinking I could bring Abbott over to the doctor for a quick cleanup so he’d have a chance to see the punches coming at him. When I walked him over, I said, “The cut’s not that bad. We’ll clean you up and get you back in the fight.”
Abbott then uttered the words no fighter ever should if he wants to keep going: “I can