Chances are if you’re reading this, you’ve watched a fight or two in your day.
If you have, you’ve seen it happen, the thing everyone loves to hate: A referee’s mistake. It doesn’t even take a major screw-up for everyone to have an opinion.
“It could’ve been sooner.”
“It could’ve been later.”
“What is the referee looking at?”
I know I’ve done it. You’ve done it, too. Criticizing officiating is simply a necessary evil if we’re going to bring about accountability and make the sport better.
But take a moment to view things from a different perspective. Step into the shoes of veteran referee Marc Goddard, one of the game’s greats, who has graced many a television screen as an official for the UFC, Bellator, and a number of other elite MMA organizations.
In a narrated cartoon released Wednesday by BT Sport, Goddard takes viewers inside the mind of a world-class official. Maybe it’s a little more difficult of a job than we take into account.
From mental preparation to tuning out thousands of fans (and a few cornermen) screaming at you, Goddard discusses the focus and level-headedness needed to be the third man inside the cage. Goddard also acknowledged the automatic criticism that comes in the age of social media.
So please, don’t stop viewing fights with a critical eye. Don’t stop holding officials and judges accountable – but maybe, just maybe, try to see things from their perspective before Twitter fingers start typing.
Check out Marc Goddard’s narrated BT Sport cartoon in the video below:
The best seat in the house?
Brilliant listening to @MarcGoddard_UK shine a light on life as a UFC referee
Brought to life by @curt_pyke
pic.twitter.com/WcJNpb9ds0
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) December 23, 2020
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