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Oh my God, I thought, as I sat there listening. I gave up doing what I loved for this? It wasn’t a promising start to the next chapter in my MMA career.

A week later, Elaine and I flew to Montreal for my debut as a cageside commentator at TKO 31 at the Centre Bell. Elaine was excited for me, but I was completely clueless about commentating. I’d been interviewed about the sport countless times over the years, but this was different and I felt like I was being thrown to the wolves.

Sitting on the other side of the chain-link fence felt foreign. I wanted to be the guy on the inside making the decisions, but it wasn’t what I’d been hired for. I certainly wasn’t what you’d call a natural in this new role, and I felt unprepared. Still, I figured I would work, try to get better, and be the best I could be at it.

My broadcast partner, Mauro Ranallo, on the other hand, was a savant at spewing out rapid-fire descriptions that made sense. From the start, Ranallo and TFN executives were encouraging, though I look back now and know I was horrible that first night. Ranallo helpfully told me how to follow his setups and play-by-play analyses.

In the end it was a fun night, but I had a long way to go.

As I moved from commentating duties to shooting promos in the studio, I realized just how hard my new role would be. If you watch TV broadcasts, the announcers have teleprompter screens displaying their scripts, but a start-up company like TFN didn’t have a teleprompter. It was no bother for Ranallo, who could study his script in hand for less than a minute, then jump in front of the camera without looking down at his notes once. For me, though, it was one of those “You expect me to do that?” moments.

If I’m being asked questions about something I know well, that’s simple. But when I stood there with someone feeding me lines I’d never say, I realized I was in the wrong world.

I also understood that I’d been hired for my notoriety in the sport and that a big facet of my job would be to promote the channel. However, I didn’t care much for the spotlight at all.

I’d never refereed because I wanted people to see me, and I’d never fancied myself a commentator or on-camera talent. You have to love what you’re doing to be good at it. That’s where I got it wrong.

My former life as a referee and my new one as an on-air analyst became muddled fairly quickly. I knew TFN had hired me for my officiating and general historical knowledge of the sport, and questions pertaining to this would usually be directed my way. This I expected with the job. What I never anticipated was that the channel would use my expertise as a bargaining chip.

In March, ProElite, another start-up company that began promoting its EliteXC events on Showtime in 2007, approached me to referee its next main event featuring Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson against British fighter James Thompson that May in New Jersey. What was special about this show was that it was going to be the first live MMA event on a major broadcast network, airing on CBS.

One TFN executive wanted me to do it to push the channel, as if I could wear the network’s logo on my referee shirt. Of course, this was a ridiculous notion. I was no longer a referee and knew jumping between officiating and broadcasting would be a conflict of interest. In fact, when I’d previously let the Nevada State Athletic Commission know of my career change, they’d pointed this out to me. I told ProElite I appreciated the opportunity but wouldn’t take the assignment.

The Fight Network came up with other ways to use my visibility. In April, the channel ran a contest where the winner would get two front row seats with me at UFC 83 in Montreal.

It was an odd situation because the UFC wasn’t on good terms with The Fight Network, as the channel had aired the ending of the Randy Couture—Gabriel Gonzaga headliner at UFC 74 without Zuffa’s permission.

14 When Zuffa found out, it pulled all of TFN’s press credentials and access to its events.

Even though this had happened before I’d joined