MMA referees — and one in particular — have been taking a lot of heat lately. How much of that is deserved, and what ought to be done about it?
Plus, how much right do fans have to expect a certain kind of style in those BMF title fights, and how mad do they get to be when they get something different?
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All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA on X or @Ben_Fowlkes on Threads.
@pmsdeadandalive: why do herb dean’s public defenders (volk, big john) think that “he’s a great guy” is an excuse for being bad at his job? the man has struggled three straight weeks; letting shara bullet yank hair 3x & then eye poke with no point taken was ridiculous. how do you see this ending?
Referees have an incentive to support each other, at least in public. No one wants to be the guy second-guessing his peers and isolating himself in the process. I do know that, behind closed doors, referees and judges say it’s vital to have colleagues they can trust to tell them when they’re in the wrong. I don’t know if that’s happening right now with Herb Dean, but I don’t think we should assume that what’s being said in private is always the same as what’s said in public.
I can tell you, just from spending time with him and talking to him a lot over the years, “Big” John McCarthy is not the type of guy to not criticize you just because he likes you. If anything, he goes hard in the other direction.
I also think it’s worth noting that sometimes we in the MMA community can get the torches and pitchforks out a little too readily. A ref screws up — or is just loudly accused of screwing up — and then anything he does adds fuel to the fire. That said, these have been a rough few weeks for ol’ Herb. But anyone who stays in that job long is bound to have some bad stretches here and there.
Reffin’ ain’t easy.
(Jack Gorman via Getty Images)
@averagegrappler: Do people who argue that BMF fights should be purely stand up fights with no grappling know that sports such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing and Bare Knuckle Boxing also exist?
This is a conversation we’ve been having in MMA ever since it became a real sport. There was a time when you could always count on some contingent of stand-and-bang fans to start booing any time a fight hit the mat. You’d hear them and wonder, do these people not know about kickboxing? Or boxing? Or any of the many other striking-only martial arts they could be watching right now?
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But when it comes to the whole BMF experiment, I do sort of see what people are getting at. The whole idea of this thing is that it’s a title only available to certain types of fighters, so it makes a certain degree of sense that we’d be expecting a certain type of fight.
Ask yourself: What qualifies someone to fight for the BMF belt? Personally, I think the answer is that he’s an exciting, action fighter with a reputation for fighting to entertain rather than fighting to secure a win by any means necessary. It is not a title for overly strategic or careful people, in other words. People want to see reckless abandon in those fights. That’s the whole appeal. When they don’t get it, I understand why they’re disappointed.
@screenplaya: Has the UFC told refs to let things go, as I have previously queried? Hurt fighters get to fight, which is good, but also nut-kickers, hair-pullers, and eye-poke enthusiasts flourish. I think we should have rules, and enforce at least some of them.
I think this is something people like to imagine. Like there’s some vast conspiracy that involves UFC executives getting in the ear of the refs and telling them what kinds of fights they want to see. I really just don’t think that’s happening.
That’s not to say there isn’t pressure on refs. But that pressure is way more indirect. It comes from state athletic commissions, which don’t want to get a reputation for screwing up big fights. They want the big fight promotions to keep coming back. They don’t want to have anything bad happen that would put them under a microscope with their state legislatures. They also, honestly, just want to do a good job.
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The problem for refs is that everything about this sport encourages them to avoid intervention whenever possible. Any time they step in and get involved, the refs are essentially stepping into an uncomfortable spotlight. We’re all watching and judging every move, every word, every decision. Most of them would rather avoid that when possible. But then, of course, we judge them for letting too much slide.
Refs don’t want to be the ones deciding these fights. That’s what’s at the core of the inaction in the face of blatant fouls. When they get involved, they place a thumb on the scales — even when they don’t end up penalizing anyone. Simply pausing a fight can be enough to affect the normal flow of things, and they’re worried about screwing that up.
Still, we do need them to decide whether these rules actually matter. Because the fighters are watching and taking notes. If you tell them they (and their opponents) can get away with this stuff, you better believe they’re going to want to be the ones to do it first before the other guy can do it to them.
@StaleSonnen: Is Onosato gonna be able to get a kachi koshi this upcoming basho?
I’d never bet against a healthy Onosato. But it feels like a long time since the big fella has been anywhere near full power.
@shadore66: Fury and Joshua are taking “tune up” boxing fights. Has MMA ever had tune up fights? Is boxing less risky than MMA? Even heavyweight boxing?
It’s been tried, but it’s also gone way wrong at times. Thing is, there are so many more ways to lose an MMA fight. Literally. And with the small gloves, one lucky punch might be enough to derail everyone’s plans.
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@ahai420: Since you’re from Montana, which character from Yellowstone do you think would make the best mma fighter, and how far up the ladder could they make it??
I don’t know how to tell you this, but Montanans don’t exactly love “Yellowstone.” I’ve never seen an entire episode. I don’t know anyone here who will admit to watching it. Tell people here that you’re a fan of the show and they’ll probably roll their eyes and groan. It might be a show about Montana (or a fictional fantasy version of it), but it is not a show for Montana.
@LCombatsports: In your professional opinion, why are combat sports media jobs so hard to come by these days? What was it like 15 years ago?
It’s not just combat sports media. It’s media in general. Then again, I was in this business 15 (and even 20) years ago and at the time it didn’t exactly feel like we were living through a golden age of opportunity.
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That said, there was a time when MMA finally broke through and became something mainstream sports outlets finally felt obliged to cover. And since it’s such a niche sport, they couldn’t just reassign some basketball writer and trust that he or she could get it right.
That’s how I came by my job as a columnist at Sports Illustrated. I was so excited. Then one day I visited the office and when the other writers heard I’d been hired to cover MMA, it was like they were offering their condolences. Like, sorry you got stuck with that. I didn’t know how to tell them that this was exactly where I wanted to be. Many established media types thought MMA was either a hopeless backwater or a crass joke. Sadly, some still do, which I guess is why it annoys some dormant thing in me when I see Josh Hokit on the mic at the White House, embarrassing us in front of company.
