# Britains First Female MMA Referee



## Tez3 (Mar 20, 2009)

This was the second fight I reffed.This is semi pro, the first was pro rules.


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## LordOfWu (Mar 20, 2009)

Very cool!  Nice job!

That looks like a very small cage...


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## arnisador (Mar 20, 2009)

Hey, good for you!

Heh, it was odd watching a fight clip and focusing on the ref., not the fighters!


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## Tez3 (Mar 20, 2009)

It was the smallest cage I've ever seen lol! You really had to watch you didn't get squashed lol! they had kickboxing bouts as well which I'm glad I wasn't reffing as they move so much faster!
The first bout I reffed one of the fighters ended up in hospital, he was taken down and put into a choke, he tapped, I caught that quick enough but he didn't get up, I got the medic in PDQ. Seems when he was taken down the back of his head hit the cage door which was padded but the padding had slipped as he moved down it then back into place, the choke twisted his neck slightly. He was carted off on a backboard with a neck brace on! he was fine though but it was a memorable first bout!


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## Tez3 (Mar 20, 2009)

arnisador said:


> Hey, good for you!
> 
> Heh, it was odd watching a fight clip and focusing on the ref., not the fighters!


cheers, my secrets out now lol I really am that middle aged woman doing MMA rofl!!


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## Nolerama (Mar 20, 2009)

right on! go Tez!


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## orlisgal (Mar 20, 2009)

Tez3 said:


> cheers, my secrets out now lol I really am that middle aged woman doing MMA rofl!!


 
Hey Tez - how wonderful...and nice to meet another middle-aged lady in the biz!  Congrats on being the 1st Female MMA Ref in Britain...that is sweet!  I'm not the first in America, but I am the first female in the state of Tennessee to get Certified - woohoo!

Tell me about yourself and how you got started - I'd love to find out more about you and post the information on my mma ref site:  www.mmarefschool.org


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## LuckyKBoxer (Mar 20, 2009)

Good For you if this what you want to do.
My only recommendations are to remember the ref should be invisible for the majority of the match. I am not saying you were not, I am just saying thats my biggest pet peeve with refs, I have seen those idiot refs that get pretty involved when its not necessary, and it seems they are trying to make the attention themselves and not the fighters.
I seem to remember seeing a femal ref fairly recently at either the affliction fights, UFC, or WEC, cant remember which it was.
Regardless have fun with it.


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## Tez3 (Mar 20, 2009)

LuckyKBoxer said:


> Good For you if this what you want to do.
> My only recommendations are to remember the ref should be invisible for the majority of the match. I am not saying you were not, I am just saying thats my biggest pet peeve with refs, I have seen those idiot refs that get pretty involved when its not necessary, and it seems they are trying to make the attention themselves and not the fighters.
> I seem to remember seeing a femal ref fairly recently at either the affliction fights, UFC, or WEC, cant remember which it was.
> Regardless have fun with it.


 
I know what you mean but the size of the cage barely 16 feet made it hard as it was crowded with three of us in there, seriously! When they had the bigger weights in and a bigger ref it was even worse.

The female ref would have been here? 




 
This is one of the three fights that Lisa Higo won to become world champ!
It was Lisa and John Higo's fight night that I was reffing on.


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## Tez3 (Mar 20, 2009)

We have no ruling body in the UK for MMA so basically we have no sanctioning for refs, this means quite often a fighter will fancy doing it and I'm not being funny they often don't know the rules. It's one thing to know what you allowed to do when you fighting, it's another to know how to referee. It's been my pet hate for a long time that men have been able to say yeah I'll ref for you, get into the cage/ring and frankly make a right mess of it. I've been judging ( they let me do that lol) and seen stuff that I've wanted to say oi mate thats not on, I've seen people tapping and the refs not been watchjing and all sorts of stuff.
When I decided I wanted to ref I thought I'd do it properly as being female I'd be ciritised more than any of the men. I learnt all the rules, watched fights over and over again on DVD and went to hundreds of shows ( luckily I don't usually have to pay lol) Marc Goddard who you may have seen reffing the last UFC here in London has been very supportive and has given loads of advice. It's taken three years to get my first official reffing job at a show. I had thought I was starting with womens amateur but got mens professional, yay!

Orlisgal, thank you! I'll pm you, must admit if I could get a qualification for reffing, even if we don't have them here, I would because it puts me one up when as we think it must British MMA has to get a ruling body.


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## Nolerama (Mar 20, 2009)

Tez, have you thought about forming your own reffing group? You seem really into solidifying the MMA scene in the UK. Maybe that could grow into a sanctioning body?


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## terryl965 (Mar 20, 2009)

Tez great job now be that leader and bring more woman into the sport of cage fighting.


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## jarrod (Mar 20, 2009)

what gives tez, i thought you were middle-aged; not that spry youthful mma ref i saw!

great job, btw.

jf


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## donna (Mar 20, 2009)

"Great Job!!" I agree, that was a tiny ring!


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## mook jong man (Mar 20, 2009)

Love ya work Tez .


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## Tez3 (Mar 20, 2009)

jarrod said:


> what gives tez, i thought you were middle-aged; not that spry youthful mma ref i saw!
> 
> great job, btw.
> 
> jf


 

Oooo I love you! 

thanks everyone!


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