Let's Get It On!_ The Making of MMA and Its Ultimate Referee - Big John Mccarthy [126]
Most people think they could referee as they sit on their couches and are fed multiple camera angles one after the other. But they really have no idea what it’s like to be the person inside the cage with the fighters. Every bout a referee walks into can be the one that goes desperately wrong.
Everyone on the outside—every fan watching in the arena or from home—has an interest in watching the fight, but that’s as far as it goes. If something goes wrong, they can walk away. They don’t know what it’s like to be the one with two lives in his hands.
I’m always looking for which fighter is starting to win the fight and which one is starting to receive more damage. I’ve learned to stand on the open side of the weaker fighter, where I’ll be able to read them the fastest. I have a signal for doctors when they enter the cage to let them know if I think the fight should be stopped, though it’s always their final decision.
The last thing a referee thinks about in the cage is the fans. If the crowd boos, the crowd boos. Entertaining the audience is not in a referee’s job description, but protecting the fighter is. Everything else is a distraction.
A referee can’t get caught up in the distractions, including his own fears. Am I going to make the right call? Will I screw up? These are valid questions, but they can’t dictate my actions. What I have to do is slow things down. I have criteria to follow, and when the time comes I do what I’m supposed to do.
A referee has to try to be selfless. The media always says a good referee is the one you don’t even notice in the cage. Personally, I don’t care whether I’m on TV or in a ballroom refereeing a match where nobody sees me. As long as it’s a good, competitive fight, I’m happy.
Still, just like the fighters, almost every referee wants to do the big fights. Some beg to be in the main event on TV, but they’re not there for the right reasons. When they finally get that fight and feel the pressure, many of them freeze.
I guess one of the greatest fears a referee can have is looking stupid getting hit or even knocked out in the cage. I’ve never thought about that once in there. In this line of work, you’re going to get hit. All the time, I see referees go in for a stoppage and turn their heads or stick their butts into the fighters and fall on them to avoid getting hit. A referee shouldn’t be concerned about getting hurt. He should be making sure the fighter he’s stopping the bout to protect doesn’t get hit again. If he gets hit in the process, then he’s done the right thing. I know the job I signed up for, and I just try to protect my chin.
I also always tell myself that things won’t go the way I want them to. Weird things can happen in a fight, so I have to be ready for anything. In my eighteen years of officiating, I’ve seen a lot, but I’m positive I still haven’t seen it all. I’ve been in the Octagon when fighters have farted, and I’ve had to keep a straight face. I’ve listened to full-blown conversations between fighters as they beat the piss out of one another. I’ve been there midfight when the arena’s lights have gone out, leaving me in the pitch black with two fighters grappling at my feet. I’ve been there when fighters have accidentally soiled their shorts, but everybody had to keep going.
Being a referee isn’t always fun or comfortable. I’ve had to tell fighters to take a shower before bouts because they smelled so bad I believed they’d have an unfair advantage.
A referee won’t always be popular. Everyone will have an opinion about the job I do, whether good or bad. If I have to make a decision or stop the fight for some reason, half the fans will think I did the right thing and the other will think I sucked. Journalists will sometimes write about me, and I’ll wish that for once in their lives they could really just get a clue or be