Marc Ratner is an American entrepreneur who is the current Vice President of Regulatory Affairs with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Formerly, he was the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. (wikipedia)
(Roger Mayweather) clearly committed a foul, that's why he's suspended. We could revoke his license temporarily; we could revoke it permanently. That's why we want to review the tapes.
Fernando couldn't see and Shane kept hitting him in the same place. (Cortez and Watson) were basically saying, 'If he can't defend himself, we have to stop it.' The stop was at the right time.
For a man of his size, he was one of the top referees in the history of the sport. The fighters respected him.
We got together with the people who run all these groups and told them there needs to be a uniform set of rules, like with boxing or any other combat sport. The people at UFC have complied with everything we've asked of them.
It's a non-title special event as far as I'm concerned.
The referee did everything right. We discussed (the possibility of halting it immediately), and I believe he made the right decision.
We're not changing anything. We've assigned the world's best referee, Joe Cortez, for the rematch. We'll take the same safety precautions we always take.
We're not changing anything, ... We've assigned the world's best referee, Joe Cortez, for the rematch. We'll take the same safety precautions we always take.
I had a debate on Larry King Live with them at the time and told them in no uncertain terms we couldn't sanction them unless they changed their rules. They really dug in their heels in trying to avoid regulation, and they paid for it.
Tony will continue to referee major fights. We usually change officials (for rematches). Boxing is a tough sport, and we're saddened because what happened with Johnson was a horrible situation.