Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [119]
I thought Couture’s upper eyelid had been flipped inside out—just like kids do to themselves sometimes—and I wondered why he didn’t just reach up and flip it back the right way. The thought that he might be cut never entered my mind. There was no blood and no real indication that the punch had cut him.
Suddenly, a single trickle of blood rolled down from his eye. It was time to bring the doctor in.
Dr. Margaret Goodman needed only a few seconds to investigate. She said, “He’s been cut badly along the lash line. I can’t let him continue.”
It had been a legal punch, so an emotional Belfort was awarded the victory and the UFC light heavyweight championship. The entire sequence played out in front of an equally confused crowd, who’d come to see a fight and felt cheated by its disappointing conclusion.
After the event, Zuffa officials approached me and asked what had happened. I explained that the fingers of the gloves were pressed together with a stitch that pinched the two pieces of material together on each side, creating the bump that had cut Couture like a razor. There was no guarantee Couture would have won the fight, but the way he’d lost it hadn’t been fair. I said I’d go back to the glove manufacturer to correct the problem.
I’d been involved with the UFC’s glove development since Zuffa had bought the UFC three years earlier. Shortly after the purchase, Zuffa had asked me to look into finding the safest gloves I could. I spoke to Boxergenics, the company that was producing UFC gloves at the time. I also researched and sent out e-mails to companies like Harbinger and Century, asking if they’d like to make a glove specifically for the UFC. John Ouano, of the Ouano brand, was the only one to respond, so I started working with Ouano on the design. He kept sending me samples until I knew that what I was holding in my hands was what we wanted. After UFC 46, I went back to John Ouano, and we worked on the gloves until we had a better model ready. Later, the UFC would end its relationship with Ouano to sign a deal with Century, but John Ouano was a major contributor in the evolution of MMA gloves and making them safer for the fighters.
12
UFC 47
“It’s On”
April 2, 2004
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bouts I Reffed:
Mike Kyle vs. Wes Sims
Yves Edwards vs. Hermes Franca
Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz
It got so loud during the final few seconds of Ortiz-Liddell’s first round that I couldn’t hear anything, including the horn to signal the round’s end. Thank God I heard the ten-second clap and started my usual countdown in my head. Ortiz missed the horn as well, so when I broke them up, Ortiz thought for an instant that I’d ended the fight on him, and he pushed me in the back. I didn’t feel it at the time but later was told about it and saw it on the tape. Liddell iced Ortiz in the second round with a left hook directly to the eye, which crumpled him on the fence. Afterward Ortiz claimed he’d been poked in the eye, but it was a legal punch.
As the sport evolved, the UFC continued to flounder. Around UFC 40, I’d known the promotion was struggling. By UFC 45, I knew they were having big problems. I’d hear the conversations. Everyone knew Zuffa wasn’t getting what it had expected out of its investment. The UFC was back on pay-per-view, but the numbers weren’t good. The company was spending a lot more money than it was making.
Remember Tito Ortiz’s entrance at UFC 30? Zuffa had paid something like $50,000 for the flame and fireworks display. Double that because they also had to test the display in front of the fire marshal during a rehearsal. That was $100,000 before the fighters even entered the cage.