Contrary to what you might believe, MMA referees do not ‘belong’ to any one fight promotion, like the UFC or Bellator. They are licensed by various athletic commissions. The commission which licenses them to act as a referee differs depending on what state, or country, the MMA event is being held in.
What this means is that the UFC, and any other fighting organisation, do not get to choose which referees work on their fight cards. as MMA officiator Steve Mazzagatti once said “We don’t work for Dana White.”
Dana White constantly sounds off against refs, telling the media that people like Mario Yamasaki make him sick sand hould never be allowed to referee again.
Regardless of what Dana White, or the UFC, think about them, some of them have been officiating fights for years, or even decades. Here are the top 10 most famous MMA referees.
Officiating in the UFC comes with a lot of responsibility, and also risk. It is the most watched MMA promotion in the world, and it is where most of the world’s best fighters are signed to. From the perspective of a referee, that means that each stoppage / decision they make is heavily scrutinised. One bad mistake by a referee can lead to years of backlash and distrust from the MMA community.
However, the referees have a very important job and that is to keep the fighters safe. If they do make a mistake, if can have lasting impacts on a fighters health and career. So with that being said, they can’t afford to make mistakes!
Let’s take a look at the top 10 UFC referees:
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10. leon roberts
Leon Roberts became hooked on MMA when he worked at a video store and they stocked UFC tournament videos on the shelves.
This job lead him to take up training and he now has over 20 years experience of training in mixed martial arts, even reaching a black belt instructor level.
He had no time to build an amateur referee resume, instead he was thrown straight into a professional slot at XFC.
Although originally from the UK, he burst onto the international MMA scene and started officiating UFC events. He climbed the rankings so quickly due to the respect he earned refereeing in other promotions:
“For me it does not matter where I am or how big the crowd is or who I am reffing, as soon as I step into the cage my body switches into autopilot. I can be nervous outside the cage… but as soon as I place one foot into the cage its as if I switch and I am ready for anything.”
9. Kevin MacDonald
Kevin MacDonald has started to be the ‘authority in the cage’ for a lot of major MMA events. He used to be a fighter himself (for the lifespan of a dragonfly) where he we went 1-0.
He isn’t exactly a fan friendly referee, at least not in the modern day… He’s getting an infamous reputation for stopping fights far too early. For example, he called a stop to Cutelaba vs Ankalaev when both fighters were still throwing punches at each other.
Usually, the ref will step in to stop a fight if the fighter looking beaten is no longer ‘intelligently’ defending themselves. You can actually hear referees saying to fighters ‘fight back’ or ‘show me something’ before stepping in to stop a fight. If the fighter then starts fighting back then the referee shouldn’t stop the fight. Kevin apparently missed that class…
Even John McCarthy, a major MMA ref, has come out against Kevin’s decision to stop the Cutelaba vs Ankalaev fight, calling the decision “horrendous”.
8. Josh Rosenthal
Josh Rosenthal is a veteran MMA referee who was very well respected in the mixed martial arts community, for his ability to sense when a fighter has had enough and needs to be saved from themself.
This heavily tattooed officiator did make some mistakes, like every referee. However, he gained a huge amount of respect for owning up to his mistakes, something other refs and their egos seem incapable of doing.
Unfortunately, that’s not all there is to say about Josh, and he will always be remembered for one other reason. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Clearly being an MMA referee wasn’t paying the bills by itself…
Obviously, he couldn’t officiate MMA fights from inside a prison cell so his career took a bit of an unexpected pause. Who knows if he will return to referee fights when he gains his freedom. He was a great referee and it was only marijuana, but the organisation may not want to associate themselves with a former convict. A lot of businesses do that.
7. Mario Yamasaki
Mario Yamasaki is a name on this list which isn’t for the right reason.
He has a signature hand gesture where he makes a love heart using his both hands. If his referring decisions are anything to go by, this heart hape is to signify that he won’t call an end to an MMA fight until one fighter’s heart stops.
He has made a series of mistakes as a referee, causing eye to roll upwards at many MMA events. He may as well have admitted that he wasn’t properly qualified to be in a cage, when he said he would go on a referee course after he allowed Priscila Cachoeira to take an absolute beat down against Valentina Shevchenko for far, far too long.
Luckily for MMA fighters everywhere, he hasn’t been seen in the UFC’s Octagon since 2018. However, he’s taken some time out to improve and is apparently making a comeback. Let’s hope he’s learnt a lot in his time off!
6. Steve Mazzagatti
Oh Steve Mazzagatti.
Remember, this is a list of the most famous MMA referees, not a list of the ‘best’ refs.
When it comes to bad decision making, Steve Mazzagatti takes the proverbial cake! You can find montages on YouTube of his worst mistakes, there are that many. It really is a wonder how he was allowed to take charge of fighter’s lives in MMA fights.
He also officiated the only loss in Jon Jones career, where he allowed Jones to hit Hamill long after Hamill stopped defending himself.
This isn’t a Mazzagatti bash party, but his job makes him responsible for the health of the fighters. In a sport where lifelong injury is highly likely, you cannot have incompetent referees in charge. Luckily for MMA fighters everywhere, Steve hasn’t been seen officiating MMA fights recently.
Even John McCarthy said once “You don’t see Mazzagatti working anymore.”
5. Marc Goddard
Marc Goddard is probably the most well known referee coming out of the UK.
Marc is a former MMA fighter, with a forgettable pro record of 7-6. He seems to have found his home refereeing fights.
Goddard is the first UK referee to be appointed to a UFC fight card. He then took this accomplishment further by becoming the first UK MMA ref to get licensed to officiate fights in the USA.
Sounds like quite a guy, right? For a while, he was quite poular with fans and the fighters. However, in recent times, Marc has made a few, let’s call them ‘interesting’, decisions. These fight calls have caused a stir with fans, fighters and even commentators.
He’s received backlash from the MMA community for being arrogant and refusing to accept his officiating mistakes. Every referee makes mistakes, its regrettable when it happens but that’s life! However, Marc isn’t known for ignoring the criticism and moving on, which would probably be the sensible decision.
4. Mike Beltran
Mike Beltran, owner of the baddest piece of facial hair in all of MMA, is another refereeing legend.
Beltran was mentored in officating by John McCarthy. On Beltran’s own Facebook page he writes “If it wasn’t for Big John McCarthy’s, unselfish dedication and believing in me, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Mike has officiated in the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and King Of The Cage. So it’s safe to say he’s been around the MMA block!
He’s perhaps most famous for his enormous Viking style moustache, which goes down below his belt and causes a lot of discussion among MMA fans.
His moustache is actually famous enough to steal headlines from Derek Brunson & Ian Heinisch in their bout. Mike rolled up his beard, probably to keep it out of the way and the MMA community went nuts, fearing the worst that he had cut it off.
3. Dan Miragliotta
No nonsense Dan Miragliotta. That’s not his nickname by the way, but it does explain his refereeing style.
Dan is a big guy and he establishes his dominance as the ‘authority’ inside the cage in all of his fights.
The sheer number of big fights he has officiated and the number of those fights being on key UFC fight cards has made Dan a well-known public figure in the sport of MMA.
Miragliotta is also famous for his feud with Bellator Welterweight contender Michael ‘Venum’ Page. MVP, as he is called, is a known showboater in the MMA world. He shows off a hell of a lot in his fights and while some find it amusing, others do not.
Dan has refereed a few of MVP’s fights and you can see the distaste he holds for his disrespectful showboating. He even went as far as to deduct a point from him when MVP pretended to take a selfie of him on top of Richard Kiely.
After the fight, MVP told Dan to “f*ck off” and Dan replied by telling MVP he was a “piece of sh*t”
2. Herb Dean
Herb Dean is probably just as well-known as the referee in this list’s number 1 spot. He actually used to be a pro MMA fighter himself, going 2-3 before turning to officiating.
Herb is known for having a very calm demenaour, and people joke that this is due to him, err, inhaling a substance that is synonymous with his first name…
Before 2018, if it wasn’t John McCarthy refereeing the biggest fights in MMA, it was Herb Dean. He has won referee of the year from 2010 to 2014.
Herb is known as being one of the most reliable referees in the world. So many refs get serious stick from MMA fans whenever they make mistakes in big fights. This will happen to ANY referee from time to time.
Herb has even had his own rare controversial moments (like when he refereed Askren v Lawler and it was possible Lawler was not unconscious when Herb called off the fight).
However, compared to other officiators, Herb is considered very professional and a solid ref.
1. ‘Big’ John McCarthy
John McCarthy wrote the book on MMA officiating. No seriously, he literally helped write the current unified rules of MMA!
Big John used to be a student of Rorion Gracie and when Gracie was putting together his new fighting promotion he asked John to be the referee (due to his past in law enforcement). His MMA refereeing debut came at UFC 2. That’s right, UFC TWO.
Big John is a Godfather figure in the UFC! He has officiated over 500 MMA fights over his career. He was also the referee in charge of the action to almost all of the major MMA fights you can think of in recent history.
He has won referee of the year 3 times; in 2015, 2016 and in 2017.
McCarthy retired in 2018, in order to become a commentator for Bellator.
