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By Root 993 0

short notice, it would often conflict with my LAPD schedule. I couldn’t accept all of the assignments. Eventually, word got back to me that some commissions thought I was a prima donna who thought I was too good to work any show besides the UFC. Honestly, I would have loved to do the other events, but some of those other promotions had caused problems with the UFC and had basically become their enemy, and I didn’t want to do anything that caused a problem. Whatever I did, I was going to piss off either the UFC or the commissions. It was really a no-win situation.

If circumstances could have stayed the same, it would have been fine, but some commissions said if I didn’t work the other shows they asked me to, I wouldn’t be working the UFC when it came to their state. After hearing that, I felt it wouldn’t be long before the UFC told me they couldn’t bring me along at all.

I understood the commissions’ stance, and I didn’t blame the UFC either. Zuffa had been generous in coming up with a solution to keep me on when it had swooped in and purchased the UFC. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that the sport had evolved, changing my role, over the years.

As I did when faced with many of life’s big decisions, I went to my dad for advice.

“You’ve been loyal to them, and the UFC’s been loyal to you,” he said. “They don’t owe you anything, and you don’t owe them anything.”

Of all my reasons, politics was the biggest one that led me to retire from refereeing. I wasn’t leaving because I didn’t enjoy refereeing. I still loved it, but I was stuck. I was in a no-win situation and felt I couldn’t make everyone happy.

My dad gave me one last bit of advice. “Walk away from it but only if it’s what you want to do.”

I knew this wasn’t what I really wanted, but I felt I had no choice. Elaine quietly started to put out feelers to some media outlets to see if someone might want to use me as a commentator or an analyst. I never wanted to be a commentator; it was merely something I could do to stay involved with the sport I loved.

UFC 74

“Respect”

August 25, 2007

Mandalay Bay Events Center

Las Vegas, Nevada

Bouts I Reffed:

Frank Mir vs. Antoni Hardonk

Joe Stevenson vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck

In the second round, St. Pierre caught Koscheck in a topside Kimura that Koscheck defended by grabbing ahold of his own shorts. “He is holding onto his shorts,” said St. Pierre, which I advised him was legal. You cannot grab your opponent’s shorts, but you are allowed to grab your own.

St. Pierre didn’t know how to successfully break the grip, but his trainer Greg Jackson gave him the proper instruction between rounds on pushing the hand down first before trying to pull up. It was a beautiful moment to me. I was watching one of the top fighters in the world learning his craft.

With a minute left and with St. Pierre on top of Koscheck, the bottom fighter started congratulating him on his win. St. Pierre stopped and gave Koscheck a curious look and then a huge elbow to the face.

Meanwhile, the UFC, with no knowledge of my own inner struggle, continued to pump out shows to a widening audience. At UFC 75 “Champion vs. Champion” on September 8, 2007, at O2 Arena in London, England, I was reminded how human fighters really are, ironically by one of the most feared athletes in the sport.

Croatian striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s streak of brutal stoppages in Japan had conjured up words like “invincible” and “unbeatable.” That is, until Fedor Emelianenko exploited a chink in Filipovic’s armor when they met in Pride Fighting Championships in August of 2005. While everyone else did all they could to stay away from Filipovic’s now legendary left high kick, the sambo expert Emelianenko decided to not only stand with the former K-1 fighter but go after him and make him back up. This strategy gave Cro Cop fits, as he was never able to set his feet to kick and couldn’t gain a comfort zone moving backward.

Once a fighter uncovers a flaw or a weakness in another, other fighters are like swarming