Do the referees on the sports, is always a challenging job, due to the responsibility that you have on your hand.
In Sports like soccer football years ago the choice made by the referees can make the difference between a goal or not, but nowadays thanks to the technology like the VAR, the potential error of the referee are at a minimum.
An opposite case for fighting sports, where the mixed martial arts referee has a great responsibility in every time, because the acting on delay for just some seconds, can make a significant difference on the health of the fighters.
The mixed martial arts referees have to possess an equilibrium on when an act, because acting in advance can cause irritations to the public, but acting on delay can do severe damage to the fighters.
For this reason, the selection of MMA referees are so tiny, and the path to becoming a mixed martial arts referee is not so easy.
The referee that you are usually to see on ufc match, a name like Herb Dean, John McCarthy, they have attended a long path to arrive where are they now.
As every referee of combat sports they start enrolling on the athletic commission of the home state, and then after a long time of training, and assisting during the match, they began to make some less importance match, until arriving if they demonstrate right attitude to the maximum levels as in UFC.
Now it time to see Who are the best 13 MMA referees actually on the world.
TOP 13 Most Famous MMA Referees
1-Herb Dean
We cannot start our list without naming one of the best MMA reefers on the planet.
Herb Dean becomes so famous in late 2004, where on the match between Tim Sylvia and Frank Mir, he notices a broke of the arm, on Sylvia’s right forearm due to an armbar.
Herb Dean at that time notice that the forearm was broken, but the fractured was negate and contested by the fighters until the results of x-ray showed that Herb Dean was right.
This episode had demonstrated the ability and the accuracy that Herb Dean Have during the match and after this episode his popularity has continue growth.
Other matches bring Herb Dean, to be considered one of the most valuable and prepared reefers.
The preparation of Herb dean is on the eyes of everybody, and also Dana white in some conference admit that Herb Dean is one of the best mixed martial arts reefers.
Important awards were recognized by the Fighters Only Magazine’s, where assigned the title of best mixed martial art referee in the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.
2-John McCarthy
Another important, probably more know of Herb Deand, John McCarthy can be considered the real legend for the MMA referees.
John McCarthy has a solid background on martial arts, and thanks to his experience in law enforcement, he decides to start the carrier as referees of MMA sports, in the way that he was able to combine the two passions that was growing during his years.
John McCarthy starts to work for UFC on the event UFC 2. During his carrier, he works for others several competitions like K-1 Strikeforce, Affliction, Bellator, King of the Cage and other more.
His fame makes him the decision to write an autobiography book, where he describes his carrier and all of his life Let’s Get It On – The Making of MMA and its Ultimate Referee.
Others important ideas developed by John McCarthy are the starting of formation for future referees, under the name of COMMAND (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts National Development).
At the moments he stopped to serve as refers during the MMA matches, but he is working as a commentator for Bellator competition.
3-DAN MIRAGLIOTTA
Dan Miragliotta is another essential name on the reefers worlds, he served for more than 70 matches in MMA, between the UFC competition, and EliteXC and Bellator.
Miragliota has a significant body that makes him a dominant presence on the octagon.
He refereed in important and famous matches as Fabricio Werdum versus Gabe Gonzaga at UFC 80, and Heath Herring versus Brock Lesnar at UFC 87.
As for every reefer that is serving on MMA matches, he also has a background on martial arts, where starting from children he went to karate, reaching the black belt, and then passing on others martial arts, like Brazilian jiu-jitsu and muay Thai.
During his career as can be aspected by a reefers career, were contested some matches, but in particular on the EliteXC’s 2008 Kimbo Slice versus James Thompson, where the community broadly discussed the decision to stop at the time on.
However, the overall career of dan Miragliotta can be deemed noteworthy.
4-Mike Beltran
Mike Beltran is an important face for the MMA referees mostly know for his particular moustache style, that makes him unique.
Mike Beltran start prating martial arts, and in particular Brazilian jiu-jitsu, after some years of BJJ, he decides to begin boxing where he only achieves small results, due primarily to the serving works on the marine corps.
Mike Beltran is also known for his ability to stop the match on the right time, mostly if during the match occur a submission.
One of his most recognizable match done on ufc octagon is Nate Diaz vs Josh Thomson fight.
Until now at the age of 47, mike beltran continue to train on martial arts, and as showed during his social Twitter apparition he maintains a perfect body shape.
5-Marc Goddard
Different story for the reefer mar Goddard, where he was a pro fighter with initial good success.
Marc Goddard, before starting the profession of refers for MMA match was a professional MMA fighter with a record of 7 wins and six loses.
Marc Goddard is considered one of the best reefers on the MMA world, due primarily to the history that seems him the protagonist of a pro-MMA fighter career.
During the match disputed during his career as referee , he was facing a weird moment in particular 2 situations.
The first one during a celebration of a win of a Conor McGregor’s friend, where Conor McGregor jumps on the cage to celebrate the victory, and Marc Goddard didn’t take this so good.
As you can see on the video
The second particular occasion that seems Marc Goddard protagonist is on the match UAE Warriors 12, where as you can see on the video, Marc Goddard was a constraint to utilize more force and be harder, in order to make slipe the choke submission.
However, the overall performance of Marc Goddard is considered one of the best.
6-Yves Lavigne
Another important name on the reefers world of mixed martial arts, Yves Lavigne served on the mixed martial arts for several years, until his retirements.
In total Yves Lavigne as referees more than 300 matches of MMA, switching between the most famous MMA competition: UFC, Bellator, PFL, FIGHT4PRIDE, and the old desert force.
The overall career of Yves can be reputed not bad, with some mistake but nothing so clamours.
The most Important match referres by Yves is Lyoto Machida vs Tito Ortiz, followed by others like Glover. Teixeira vs Nikita Krylov, and the last one before retiring Ronny Markes vs. Linton Vassell on Bellator 254.
7-Greg Franklin
Greg Franklin can be considered a good MMA referee.
After an acceptable carrier on the amateur phase as MMA fighter, he makes a disastrous adventure on the pro category; totalizing four loses and only one win.
Anyway, he was able to make from his passion a job, when he started the career as mma referee.
At the moment the main competition where Greg Franklin is working as mma refers is Bellator, and until now he did a great job, and for sure if he will continue like that, will not pass so much time that we find him on others important competitions.
8- JOSH ROSENTHAL
Josh Rosenthal at the time that he was serving as reefer for MMA matches was gaining important reputation, mostly for his ability and timing on stop the fighting, as soon as a fighter was in difficulty.
As you probably can imagine, this is one of the essential quality that a referes can own.
Anyway, something went wrong, and destroy the reputation of josh Rosenthal forever. More specif when he was arrested for distribution of marijuana.
This event had compromise seriously the career of the referee, mostly because the competitions doesn’t want to attribute the face of the reefers ( in this case a person that in the past was distributing marijuana) to the organization.
If Josh Rosenthal wouldn’t make the error that he did, probably nowadays he was considered on the top of the best reefers worldwide.
9-Kevin Mulhall
Kevin Mulhall is considered a mediocre reefer on mixed martial arts.
However, no particular facts about his life are knower, only thathe was attending some martial arts before making the mixed martial art’s refeerer.
Kevin Mulhall is not at a high level as john McCarty, but he is known for his excellent time stopping of the match, and the right timing on intercept the fight.
10-LEON ROBERTS
Leon Roberts can be considered one of future best refers, since the moment that he starts his career as reffere for martial arts, no particular mistake was made By Leon Roberts.
Leon Roberts start the career as reefer for martial arts in the XFC competitions.
The motivation and the passion for martial arts is the secret that make Leon Roberts a very respectable person on the refeers worlds of martial arts.
On the actual stage, Leon Roberts is refers for the UFC, Bellator and cage warriors competitions.
11-Mario Yamasaki
Mario Yamasaki is another name that cannot miss on the of the best MMA referees.
Mario Yamasaki is a Brazilian mixed martial arts referees where he is serving his knowledge worldwide.
During his carrier at the moment is disputed more than 400 matches as referee for the most important competition of mixed martial arts.
Mario Yamasaki approached the world of martial arts when he was a child, pushed by his brother, Mario starts to train on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, until reaching the 4th-degree black belt.
The begin of the career for Mario Yamasaki as reefer is different from the others that we saw before; because he was already inside the promotion of ufc, in particular with the role of promoter and helper, for organizing the new events on brazil for UFC.
He starts to participate on ufc covering the role of referee only after a period of training, more precisely At UFC 142.
However also for him, some fight was disappointed by commentator and Dana white, for this reason after some period of time he decides not to serve no more as referees on ufc competitions.
Nowadays by last news, Mario Yamasaki has founded the International Yamasaki Academy, where he is the instructor.
12-KEVIN MACDONALD
Kevin Macdonald is part of ranking not for his excellent reputation but, mostly for his fame.
Kevin Macdonald was a fighter of MMA, where he makes a record of 1-0 before stopping the fight.
Over the last period, his reputation went down, touching almost the 0 levels, due to non-sense stoppage did.
In particular make part of his bad reputation the stoppage done during the match of Cutelaba vs Ankalaev, where the reefers stop the game while the two fighters were exchanging punches.
By Joe Rogan, this stoppage is considered one of most scandalous of the ufc history, as you can see on the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQlhm9xsG3k
13-Steve Mazzagatti
Steve Mazzagatti cannot be considered a very successful referee for the MMA.
By some declaration released of Ufc presided Dana white, Steve Mazzagatti is considered the worst referee never had on the ufc history.
The main reason of this qualification is due to his inability to understand on the correct time when to stop a fight.
During his carrier, he served in several different competitions, but always letting discussion and controversial by the fan and fighters.
The particular relevance of not competent referee was visible in different matches, in particular, in some occasions, he did’t see non-allowed punch, prohibited punches, and sometime he was stopping matches without any reason.
As you can imagine the worst referee can do severe damage to the fighter either decisions of win or loss, but more critical series damage for the fighters, where a non-stopped match in time can make the difference between not relevant damage, to big damage.
CONCLUSION
That’s all for the best martial arts referees, during the article, we take a look to the most famous one, and I decide to insert on the rank of the best also some referees that during his career made some mistake.
The job of referees must be done with attention and care. Otherwise, the risk of destroying the career or the life of a fighter is high.
Refereeing to the MMA match is not a simple job; the risk of being penalized for a wrong decision is high because all the eyes as soon as the referee take a decision are pointed to him.
I hope that this rank of the best mixed martial arts referee did you like it, if you know some others good referees comment below.
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