ELITE MMA Referee School

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009 - LIVE FROM SOMMET CENTER IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) is proud to announce its first-ever event in Nashville, Tennessee. Music City has never seen hard-hitting action like this as many of the rising stars in the sport of mixed martial arts will be featured in a nationally televised event live on Spike TV Wednesday, April 1 at 9:00p.m. ET/PT for UFC® Fight Night Live™ from the Sommet Center.

Tickets for this event will go on sale Saturday, February 7 at 10 a.m. CT and will be priced at $200, $125, $90, $60, $40 and $20. Tickets are available at the Sommet Center box office, all Ticketmaster locations, and by telephone at 615-770-2040. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at ufc.com, sommetcenter.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Thursday, February 5 at 10 a.m. CT via the website ufc.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, February 6 starting at 10 a.m. CT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through ufc.com. 

The UFC’s first-ever event in Nashville will be headlined by the contrasting styles of submission specialist Carlos Condit and the top-tier striking of Martin Kampmann. UFC® Fight Night™ will also include The Ultimate Fighter® Season 8 winners Ryan Bader and Efrain Escudero, The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 standout Cole Miller, The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 contestant Junie Browning and light heavyweight contender Carmelo Marrero.

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Jan 10, 2009 at 5:00 pm ET

According to John Morgan of mmajunkie.com, "Judging by the fall-out from December's "UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008," longtime referee Steve Mazzagatti did not have his best performance.

A perceived slow response to end both the Cheick Kongo vs. Mostapha al Turk and Rashad Evans vs. Forrest Griffin bouts led UFC President Dana White to say Mazzagatti was "a nice guy, but he's not a referee," at the post-event press conference.

The even-keeled Mazzagatti recently told MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com/) he wasn't even aware White was upset.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mazzagatti said.

In both cases, there was no doubt as to the winner of the bout. The concern expressed from White stemmed from the amount of uncontested shots al Turk and Griffin were allowed to take after the outcome of the bout had been unquestionably determined.

And White wasn't the only one critical of Mazzagatti's stoppages. UFC lightweight contender Kenny Florian also made his opinion known on a recent episode of ESPN.com's ESPN Live.

"I think someone should have gotten [Mazzagatti] glasses for Christmas," Florian said. "I'll be honest, he really has been late with a lot of his calls, and it has been a consistent thing with him."

While the public outcry may be predominantly negative, the only opinion that truly matters is that of his employer, the Nevada State Athletic Commission. And Mazzagatti said that relationship is doing just fine.

"The commission is happy with my performance," Mazzagatti said. "Enforcing the rules isn't always going to be popular. I pride myself on trying to enforce the rules. That's what it's all about."

The NSAC appoints referees to all bouts under their jurisdiction. So while White may publicly voice his disapproval of Mazzagatti's performance, it is ultimately up to NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer to decide where the embattled referee will work.

Attempts to reach Kizer for comment on Mazzagatti's stature were unsuccessful.

As for Mazzagatti, he has no problem returning to officiate another UFC bout, despite all the criticism.

"Not at all," Mazzagatti said.

John Morgan is the lead staff reporter for MMAjunkie.com.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Once again New Jersey’s Deputy Attorney General, Nicholas Lembo, made history on November 26, 2008, at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the New Breed Fighters held an MMA event.

With only 1:11 to go in Round 2, the fight between Super Welterweight Title holder "Wrestling" Joel Roberts, 5-1 (Simrell MMA/ Rat Pack Fight Team) and challenger, Ryan Vaccaro, 2-2 (Oliviera BJJ,) was stopped due to what was perceived to be a tap. Stating he did NOT see a tap, Referee Donnie Caroli was not in agreement with the stoppage. After debating the issue for some time, Nick Lembo finally decided to invoked a never before used rule: he went to the video!

Until now, this little-known rule has never been used or enforced in any amateur or professional fight – but used it was on November 26th!

After reviewing the tape countless times, Deputy Attorney General Lembo finally stated he detected a very slight tap – but an obvious and clear tap nevertheless. While Vaccaro did not admit he had tapped, his corner men stated it appeared to them he had tapped as well. The final decision? The win went to the Champion.

When the smoke clears, we're sure "Wrestling" Joel Roberts, and challenger, Ryan Vaccaro, will be anxious to get back into the ring and fight each other once more. We’ll let you know what happens this time.

During its recent Annual Convention, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), in its infinite wisdom and great desire to control mixed martial arts and make their cut of the MMA-pie, approved of the creation of a national database to track the identity and competition records of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Competitors. The database will serve the same purpose as the comparable system currently used for professional boxers. That database is managed by Fightfax.

Being a big secret and by not telling pretty much, well, anyone, the ABC reviewed just the 2-3 proposals submitted by companies interested in providing this service -- who KNEW about it. It was "decided" that mixedmartialarts.com, the lucky dog, would be the official record keeper for the ABC Membership.

Mixedmartialarts.com will administrate the database and provide interested parties officially recognized fight records. State Athletic Commissions are in the process of submitting prior fight results for inclusion in the database. Some states have begun requiring that fighters be registered with the database prior to competition. The database will include both amateur and professional MMA Competitors.

As each State Athletic Commission is different, you should check with your state to see if they will require a Mixed Martial Arts Competitor Federal ID in order to compete.

You can get a copy of the Mixed Martial Arts Competitor Federal ID Application Form by clicking this link.