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Tony
17-03-2009, 10:51
#5: Josh Rosenthal

YouTube - Nick Diaz vs Thomas Denny - EliteXC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiigevBUcc&eurl=http://www.cagepotato.com/five-best-referees-mma)


(Nick Diaz vs. Thomas Denny @ EliteXC: Unfinished Business, 7/26/08

With his trademark half-smirk during faceoffs and soft-spoken vibe, Josh Rosenthal (http://triumphunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/img_0949.jpg) brings some much-needed positive energy to the mean-muggin’ atmosphere of MMA. And though his stoppage in the first Chael Sonnen/Paulo Filho fight at WEC 31 (http://mixedmartialartvideos.com/2007/12/13/paulo-filho-vs-chael-sonnen/) drew controversy — in the eyes of Sonnen, at least — he’s one of those guys you rarely hear about because he just does his job in a quiet, dependable sort of way. Could 2009 be Rosenthal’s breakout year?


#4: Mario Yamasaki

Freevlog - Chuck Liddell VS Tito Ortiz 2 (http://www.freevlog.hu/video/12437.html)
(Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell 2 @ UFC 66, 12/30/06)

Mario Yamasaki (http://forresthickman.com/ufc0012.jpg) fell into the referee gig when a UFC trip to Brazil (where Yamasaki was born) highlighted their need for another ref in addition to Big John McCarthy. Since he was a lifelong martial arts enthusiast and jiu-jitsu expert (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071001618.html), Yamasaki was a good fit. His biggest problem as a ref might be that he looks a little too much like Steve Mazzagatti, and that can be a career-killer. The difference is that Yamasaki gives fighters a chance to recover, but also knows when to stop a bout (despite maybe one or two notable exceptions (http://www.mmafightgirls.com/post/1049/matt-hughes-confronts-referee-mario-yamasaki-after-fight/), depending on who you ask (http://www.fightlinker.com/super-mario-yamasakis-greatest-hits.mma)), as he did when he mercifully ended the second Tito Ortiz (http://wiki.cagepotato.com/index.php/Tito_Ortiz)-Chuck Liddell (http://wiki.cagepotato.com/index.php/Chuck_Liddell) fight – a decision he was criticized for by Ortiz, and no one else.


#3: Yves Lavigne


http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v811205b735
(Marcus Davis vs. Paul Taylor @ UFC 75, 9/8/07)


Okay, so the Brown/Sell fiasco at UFC 96 (http://www.myvideofight.com/video/ufc/ufc-96-matt-brown-vs-pete-sell/index.html) was one of the worst reffing performances in MMA history; there’s no arguing that one. But bad calls are an extremely rare occurrence with Lavigne (http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-02/44815806.jpg), who’s been handling business in the Octagon since UFC 58 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_58). In fact, the French-Canadian’s usually-razor-sharp judgment is also responsible for one of the best bits of MMA reffing — the Davis vs. Taylor scrap at UFC 75, where the Irish Hand Grenade was rocked by a kick, then took about a dozen unanswered blows from Taylor on the ground. Lavigne came within a ball-hair of stopping it, then backed off, allowing Davis to regain his composure and grind out an eventual win by armbar. He’s also the guy who saved Matt Serra from getting all his ribs broken in his rematch with GSP (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33058222). So give the homme a break, aight?



#2: John McCarthy


Dailymotion - Fedor Emelianenko vs Andrei Arlovski, une vidéo de Buakaw93100. Fedor, Emelianenko, vs, Andrei, judo (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x85648_fedor-emelianenko-vs-andrei-arlovsk_sport)
(Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski @ Affliction: Day of Reckoning, 1/24/09)


The former undisputed #1 baddest-ref-in-the-world drops to #2 for inactivity. Since “retiring” in December 2007, Big John (http://www.knucklepit.com/_tJohn%20McCarthy%202.jpg) has popped up for third-man duty at Strikeforce: Destruction last November and Affliction: Day of Reckoning in January. We know he’s been at it for 15 years now, and he has other things (http://www.bjmuta.com/) to deal with these days, but we’re bummed that we don’t get to see BJM on a regular basis anymore. Is it possible that McCarthy and the UFC can reconcile in time for UFC 100 in July? (For an old-school blast from the past, check out Big John’s first televised appearance — the Pat Smith vs. Scott Morris scrap at UFC 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zchj8kR8As). Eventually, he’d get better at the whole fight-stopping thing.)


#1. Herb Dean


YouTube - Frank Mir Breaks Tim Sylvias Arm *HQ* (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S9C2NoIPhI&eurl=http://www.cagepotato.com/five-best-referees-mma)
(Frank Mir vs. Tim Sylvia @ UFC 48, 6/19/04)



With his laid back approach and ‘I got rolling papers if you got weed’ personal style, Herb Dean (http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00yN7Tx5f95PW/610x.jpg) has been a standout referee on the MMA scene for years. He gets the top spot here because he doesn’t screw up often, doesn’t draw attention to himself, and has an established track record of doing right by the fighters’ safety, even if they don’t like it. Exhibit #1 for that claim is his stoppage of the Tim Sylvia-Frank Mir (http://wiki.cagepotato.com/index.php/Frank_Mir) fight, in which he can be heard to exclaim ‘Oh, shit!’ when he sees Big Tim’s arm go. Despite Sylvia’s insistence that his arm was fine (it wasn’t, obviously), Dean handled the situation perfectly, telling him as nicely as he could that his arm was broken. The same is true of his stoppage in the second (http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d154/jamiemarie143/?action=view&current=UFC61-TitoOrtizvsKenShamrockII.flv) Ken Shamrock (http://wiki.cagepotato.com/index.php/Ken_Shamrock)-Tito Ortiz (http://wiki.cagepotato.com/index.php/Tito_Ortiz) bout. Shammy whined about it and the powers that be gave him another go with Ortiz, but don’t we all now wish we’d just taken Herb Dean’s word for it that Shamrock was done?
You can now follow the ever-changing referee Top 5 on CagePotato's Power Rankings (http://www.cagepotato.com/fighter-rankings) page. What fun!

Tony
17-03-2009, 10:53
Leuk lijstje...

Maar Big John hoort sowieso op nummer 1... voor altijd... (en daarna)

Herb Dean op 2 is prima..

Zag trouwens liever Steve Mazzagatti op nummer 4 of 5...

Dan Miragliotto zal wel ergens op nummertje 1049 staan :p

Mr 1 Leg
17-03-2009, 11:01
thanks tony top

HUNTER
17-03-2009, 11:07
ik mis Marco scheids in het rijtje

Sendur
17-03-2009, 11:33
Yves lavigne staat wel goed gelukkig ondanks zijn laatste bad call vind ik hem altijd wel goed reffen.

Vooral zijn accent is lache haha :)

Glen
17-03-2009, 11:56
M. Broersen op 3
H. Dean op 2
J. McCarthy op 1

Oh, en N. Beurskens op 4

payap
17-03-2009, 14:22
Een exacte volgorde op ranking vindt ik altijd erg moeilijk. Marco kan zeker bij dit rijtje geplaatst worden.

Ronald
17-03-2009, 18:46
Marco for president.

Marco (scheids)
17-03-2009, 19:35
Marco for president.

Ik heb geen highlight filmpje :D

Overgens vindt ik:
Big John Mc Carthy op nr 1 staan
en Yuji Shimada op nr 2 staan

Tony
17-03-2009, 19:48
Die Yuji is toch de oude collega van Matt Hume? (soort van hoofd-referee's en regelmakertjes bij pride)

Ik vond dat Yuji toch met regelmaat erg laat ingreep (alhoewel dat destijds in pride toch wel vaker voorkwam)

kooivechter
17-03-2009, 23:00
nou ik vond die mistake bij de laatse ufc echt schandalig van lavigne op dat niveau. Zat dat echt met verbazing te bekijken. Zo'n blunder kun je een keer maken, en daarna nooit meer. Die sell had wel blijvend letsel op kunnen lopen, zoveel klapppen kreeg hij zonder dat de scheids ingreep. Ik weet dat Lavigne het niet expres deed, alleen je moet dan is goed achter je oren krabben, of je nog scheids wilt zijn, een 2e keer kan wel eens verkeerd aflopen.

renamer
17-03-2009, 23:43
Ik vond de aktie van big john ook geweldig bij de partij van sukoju vs babablou sobral om ze weer in het midden te leggen in backmount.. vind ik voor een reff nogal getuigen van ballen...

ashi76
17-03-2009, 23:54
Leuk lijstje...

Maar Big John hoort sowieso op nummer 1... voor altijd... (en daarna)

Herb Dean op 2 is prima..

Tony = correct.
Big John is overduidelijk #1 !!!