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combo that Arlovski dropped under while launching his own counter overhand right. Luckily I was on the side where I could see the effect on Buentello, who clearly went out when Arlovski connected. Buentello fell forward onto Arlovski, who was bent forward from ducking. Buentello slid off Arlovski and hit the canvas, which woke him up. The crowd booed until the replay, which clearly showed that Buentello had been knocked out. Buentello came to, asked me what had happened, then complained. However, Buentello’s wife thanked me afterward for stopping the fight and protecting her husband. Nothing could have made me feel better about the job I had just done.

Zuffa used its big break to its best possible advantage. When the second season of The Ultimate Fighter debuted on Spike TV that August, UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and middleweight titleholder Rich Franklin were cast as the new coaches. What better way to familiarize fans with their champions than to have them broadcasted into millions of homes each week?

I returned to referee some of the fights on the show, and when it concluded in November to steady ratings, both Hughes and Franklin had already been assigned to headline UFC 56 against their respective challengers two weeks later. Zuffa had momentum, and it wasn’t stopping now.

At UFC 57 “Liddell vs. Couture 3” on February 4, 2006, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, I got to referee the third and final bout between the two stars and TUF season one coaches. Their exposure on the show had made Liddell and Couture Zuffa’s most recognizable fighters, and they each had a win over the other, so the rubber match made perfect sense.

At the top of the bout, I thought Couture was fighting really smart. He got hit with a big shot that busted up his nose, which was bleeding a lot, but after much effort he took Liddell down in the last thirty seconds.

It went into the second round, but Liddell caught Couture again in the first two minutes. Couture went down and tried to flail his arms and legs to keep Liddell off him, but Liddell connected again.

I watched Couture’s arms fall and his head bounce against the canvas. He came to from the impact as I was coming in. Liddell could have caused more damage if I hadn’t stepped in.

I was pleased with this stoppage, even after Couture told the press he hadn’t felt out of it at any point. Fighters who’ve been knocked out often claim they weren’t, so I don’t ever take it personally. They don’t know what’s happened because they’ve lost that little piece of time. The two most popular lines for fighters during these times are “What happened?” and “Why is my opponent putting on his shirt?”

Throughout 2005, the UFC’s future seemed to get steadily brighter. In August, Spike TV debuted Ultimate Fight Night, later re-branded UFC Fight Night, a two-hour live fight show featuring the previous TUF season’s fighters, which would serve as the lead-in to the reality show’s next season debut.

I don’t think the pay-per-view numbers took off that year. Zuffa never released the buy numbers, though Lorenzo Fertitta or Dana White would sometimes share them with me.

However, the live crowds were consistently growing, and it would take me a bit longer to leave the arena, as I’d be asked for a few more autographs and pictures each time.

UFC 56

“Full Force”

November 19, 2005

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Las Vegas, Nevada

Bouts I Reffed:

Thiago Alves vs. Ansar Chalangov

Matt Hughes vs. Joe Riggs

Rich Franklin vs. Nate Quarry

Franklin-Quarry ended in spectacular fashion for the crowd when Quarry fell back like a stiff tree from Franklin’s last punch, but I wasn’t happy with the outcome. I’m not saying I cared who won or lost, but Quarry took substantial damage and was out there trying to survive as much as he was trying to win. The fans were thrilled because they had a dramatic and definitive ending to the fight, but I knew it was over before that punch ever landed. I just wasn’t able to protect Quarry from that final blow.

UFC 58

“USA vs. Canada”

March 4,