Let’s Get It On! (55 page)

We didn’t roll hard. When I grabbed him, he went to move his wrist and I felt like I could hold on to it if I wanted to. But it was quickly clear that Emelianenko’s advantage wasn’t about strength. He’s super fast—especially for a heavyweight—and explodes into the movement. Eventually he catches you in a mistake and gets you where he wants you. I’m just glad what we did was for fun, because truly fighting Fedor Emelianenko would’ve been far from what I’d call enjoyable.

Because Emelianenko had turned down a UFC contract and fought in the smaller rival Strikeforce promotion instead, I would get to referee three of his fights in the United States. I was inches away when he tapped out to Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Fabricio Werdum’s armbar-triangle choke combination at Strikeforce “Fedor vs. Werdum,” on June 26, 2010, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It was Emelianenko’s first loss in twenty-nine fights and nearly a decade, and he handled it with such professionalism and grace.

I never care which fighter wins. However, I can’t help but have a lot of admiration for many of them, Emelianenko included.

That July, I was surprised when I got the call from George Dodd, the new executive officer of the California State Athletic Commission.

After meeting George and seeing where he came from, I knew he was an honest man, and I told him that I’d always be up-front with him. George asked why he was being told that I’d said negative things about the UFC and had a grudge against them. I told him about the interview and encouraged him to listen to it himself and make up his own mind about it.

Shortly after, he gave me an assignment to officiate the UFC’s second live event for the Versus channel on August 1, 2010, in San Diego. A few UFCs had come and gone in California since I’d returned to officiating, and I hadn’t been assigned to any of them under the previous executive officer’s command. I assumed I’d never referee a UFC event in my home state again.

It had been nearly three years since I’d stepped into the Octagon, and some MMA media had made noise about why it had taken so long. After all this time, I tried to think it wasn’t a big deal to be returning. However, Elaine’s mind raced that this might be a first step toward some kind of reconciliation. I didn’t think that would be the case at all. I knew I wasn’t wanted by the people who are most important within the Zuffa headquarters: Lorenzo and Dana. I wasn’t completely sure about Lorenzo, but one of the best things about Dana is that he has no problem saying how he feels, and he had said enough for me to know I wouldn’t be a welcome addition.

At the show, I went about my normal business. It was great to see some of the UFC employees I hadn’t spoken to in a while, including event coordinator Burt Watson.

On one of my walks from the locker rooms back to the arena floor, I passed Dana in the hallway. He hadn’t spoken kindly of me publicly the last few years, and now he was standing right in front of me. Before he could say anything, I said, “Dana, thank you for everything you’ve done for the sport and for me in the past. It didn’t go unnoticed. I just wanted to tell you that.”

I shook his hand as he said, “Thank you,” and I continued on my way to sit cageside with the other commission employees.

I can positively say my brief exchange with Dana wasn’t planned and was absolutely sincere. Whatever there was between Dana and me didn’t change the fact that he, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, and Zuffa’s dedicated staff had an immense hand in saving MMA from extinction.

Maybe I’d thought this could be the last time I’d speak to Dana, and I wanted him to know I’d never stopped being grateful.

One of the frequently asked questions I get nowadays is “Do you have any hard feelings toward the UFC?”

The truthful answer is I never have. I spent many years trying to get people to understand the UFC and mixed martial arts for the competition it is. When everyone said the UFC was going to die, I fought to keep interest alive. When everyone told me to leave the organization I believed in, I stayed.

I never owned any part of the UFC, but I always felt like I was a part of it. Eventually that feeling kind of went away. Was that my own fault? Maybe.

I made the decision to leave on my own. Zuffa stayed loyal to me the whole time, though back then I thought Lorenzo and Dana wouldn’t be able to back me up forever.

I read the crystal ball wrong. I made the wrong call.

Sometimes you have to gamble big to understand the game. My big payoff out of all of this was wisdom, and you know what? That’s okay. I figured out what really counts.

What makes life great is the experiences you have. Usually they involve other people, and the memories can never be taken away. I always say if you can count your real friends on one hand, you’re doing pretty good.

When you’re young, everything is about what you have. When you get older and realize what’s important, everything is about what you do and how you do it.

There was a time when I did everything in my power to be at every UFC because I thought it was that important. I can admit now that sometimes my priorities were screwed up.

I missed many things I should have been at. I left my family in the middle of a vacation because I was asked to be at a commission meeting to help get MMA regulated. I missed my son’s high school graduation because I felt like I needed to be at a UFC. I felt like I owed the UFC, Zuffa, and Dana.

I used to think the greatest compliment I could receive was from the fighters when they’d say, “I’ve waited my whole career to have you referee my fight,” or when they specifically requested me as their referee. But more than any affirmations I could get from any fighter, more than any rules I wrote or any historic bouts I got to officiate, the greatest accomplishment in my life is my family.

I’m overjoyed that my sons, Ron and Johnny, are the honorable people they are and that my daughter is trying to do good things with her life in the military. I have a wonderful wife who cares about me—not about what we have or where we’re going next. She just wants to be together. That’s what counts.

In the last few years, Zuffa has taken the UFC to heights I wouldn’t have dreamed possible. In March of 2011, they purchased their closest rival, Strikeforce, uniting 90 percent of the world’s greatest MMA talent under one roof. As they predicted they would, they have truly become the league of the sport.

In the last couple years, I’ve refereed over 1,000 fights, twice as many as I had from the beginning of my career in 1994 until I retired in 2007. I don’t officiate every big fight anymore, but I’ve gotten to see something better in a way. I’ve observed the sport’s grassroots movement firsthand, and I know MMA is not only going to survive; it’s going to flourish, expand, and become one of the biggest sports in the world.

Fan letters like this always put a smile on my face.

It’s a great thing to see a promotion providing a positive environment for new fighters and putting out a strong product for the fans. It’s also exciting to see kids that I know will make it.

On the other hand, I’ve watched a referee make a bad call or seen judges give a win to the wrong guy, breaking the spirit of a kid who should have won but will never fight again. That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to keep from happening.

When commissions asked me to come and teach other referees back in 2004, I resisted, thinking,
Why would I teach your guys to take my job?

I quickly realized I was being shortsighted. They weren’t going to take my job, and if I didn’t referee every big fight, it wasn’t the end of the world. It was right to share what I’d been privileged enough to learn along the way.

My three-day COMMAND courses have evolved so much over the last few years. At first, I know I crammed too much information in for anyone to retain it all, but I learned to manage time and focus on the crucial information. In turn, I know I’m now a better referee than I ever was before, because I’m drilling the important information into my students, which also drills it into me. I’m proud of the fact that many of my students have gone on to work major MMA shows, including for the UFC, Strikeforce, WEC, and others.

Now I’m working at having instructors available to teach classes all over the world. My main goal is to have the same information being communicated to every MMA official everywhere. Every time I teach now, I bring along another instructor, Jerin Valel, who completed both my referee and judging courses by March of 2009.

Valel, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, had already been licensed as a referee in the Canadian province Manitoba with over 100 bouts under his belt, but he sought out the courses to improve. I could tell Valel was an exceptional student because of the questions he asked in class, so when he called me a few months later to ask how he could become a certified instructor, I listened.

Valel spent the next sixteen months traveling from Manitoba to Valencia on his own dime and earned the teaching certification in August of 2010. He referees in his province and has made it onto some of the bigger shows throughout Canada. He’s a phenomenal representative for COMMAND and also for the future of officiating in MMA.

It would be easy to say my life would have been easier if I hadn’t left refereeing and essentially the UFC, but I know I would have missed other opportunities. COMMAND continues to grow, and our gym has expanded to 28,500 square feet, which makes it one of the largest mixed martial arts facilities in the country.

My eldest son, Ron, became a judge for California’s growing amateur MMA program in 2009. In 2011, we sat side by side to officiate a Strikeforce event together.

I’m closer to my father and mother than I’ve ever been in my life. And I’ll become a grandfather myself this October.

In life, I’ve taken chances, then faced what happens next. I do sort of live by the words I preach: Let’s get it on. Opportunities abound if you’re open enough to notice and go for them.