Commentator Joe Rogan has not only been famous on UFC's comment table for many years, he also has a terrible follow when the Host of Podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” specializes in sharing very different perspectives on the backstage of MMA. In episode 1605 of Podcast, Joe Rogan invited UFC's referee Mark Smith to talk about the experience of the MMA referees on the stage.
“We will pay attention not to move too much, but also make sure we always keep a clear view of the movements of both boxers,” referee Mark Smith.
“When the match moved to the battlefield, we would also have to crawl down when needed. It is important that the rhythm of the match is extremely fast, we have to immediately decide whether it is dangerous to stop the match or not. That will need a lot of knowledge, not only in martial arts techniques but also physiology again.”
Referee Mark Smith also shared that to him, stopping a match too early or too late is “the worst feels in the world”. Joe Rogan was completely sympathetic. Rogan commented that making a decision to stop the match may be at risk of making fighters and the audience angry. BLV UFC even said that he considered a referee to be “a difficult job”, “harder than anything other than to become two fighters.”
According to Joe Rogan, the people in the position of referees are not comfortable, but it is clear that compared to the direct referee present on the stage, the referees not appear on television and therefore they can feel more comfortable. In particular, if the arbitrator has a wrong decision, the whole hatred of the audience will focus on that person. This makes the pressure on the shoulder of the referee worse.
An example of a very difficult match for the referee is probably the match between Tim Sylvia and Frank Mir in 2004. Referee Herb Dean then stopped after Sylvia's arm was
Broken, but even Sylvia at that time was very energetic to continue without realizing his injury. The audience booed the decision to end the competition until the UFC shone a detailed video of the incident.