I’m not saying that being an MMA referee is an easy job. Like a lot of gigs that look pretty cushy from a distance, it’s probably a lot harder once you try and do it yourself. Sure, you usually work in no more than fifteen-minute shifts, which doesn’t sound bad. But then again, if you’re always working on Saturday nights, when do you go to the movies? These are the things we don’t consider from outside the cage.
What I will say about the referee’s job, however, is that there are a few sure ways to be bad at it. I was reminded of this fact last weekend when I watched referee/judge/sensei Cecil Peoples work the King of the Cage heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Tony Johnson.