Marc Ratner quits NSAC,joins ZUFFA

http://www.ufc.tv

Crazy.

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=2377

03/24/2006
Marc Ratner to Join Zuffa, LLC

Las Vegas, NV The Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced that Marc Ratner, who has served with the Nevada State Athletic Commission since 1984, and as its Executive Director for the last 13 years, has decided to leave state service and join Zuffa, LLC as a member of the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization.

"Everyone here at Zuffa has always had the utmost respect for Marc Ratner and the work he has done for the Nevada State Athletic Commission," said Dana White , UFC President. "We are thrilled that, at this point in his career, Marc has decided to join the Ultimate Fighting Championship team. I truly look forward to working with Marc and know that his experience in combat sports will be invaluable to the UFC organization."

"It has been my honor to serve the State of Nevada for over 2 decades, first as inspector, then as chief inspector, and for the last 13 years as Executive Director. During that time, I have had the privilege of working with some of the finest athletic commissioners and officials in the world," said Ratner. "It was time in my career, however, that I owed it to myself and my family to think about opportunities in the private sector. And like so many others, I have been amazed at what Dana White and Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III have done with the UFC brand of mixed martial arts. As a result, I am very excited to be joining Zuffa, and I hope that my efforts will be a benefit to the UFC organization and to the future growth of the sport of mixed martial arts."

Further details regarding this announcement will be made at a later date.

About The Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship® brand is the world's leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev. , the UFC® organization produces approximately eight live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed through cable and satellite providers. In addition to its distribution, UFC fight programs are distributed throughout the world including broadcast on WOWOW, Inc. in , Globosat in and Bravo in the . Zuffa, LLC licenses the distribution of its fight show DVDs through Studioworks Entertainment, a Ventura Distribution company. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit www.ufc.com.

Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC or other respective owners.

Mar. 24, 2006
Copyright ? Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ratner leaving commission, going to UFC

Resigning executive director to make move in May

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Marc Ratner, the widely respected executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, resigned Thursday to accept a lucrative three-year contract from the Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Ratner, who has been with the commission since 1985 and was appointed full-time executive director in 1992, called the offer "an extraordinary opportunity for my family." His last day with the athletic commission will be May 13.

"I love the commission and I love working for the state, and so from that standpoint, this was a very difficult decision," said Ratner, who will be a vice president for the UFC. "The commission has been such a huge part of my life for so long. But I had to think of my family and this offer was amazing."

UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta said Ratner, 61, will be involved in all aspects of the operation. He will concentrate on regulatory issues and dealing with state athletic commissions.

The UFC recently was sanctioned in California, making it the 20th state where mixed martial arts fights are regulated.

Fertitta, who was a member of the athletic commission and developed a close bond with Ratner, said the hire is significant for his company.

"Obviously, Marc's reputation is impeccable and his knowledge is first-rate, and people like that are the kinds of people we want working for us," Fertitta said. "He's very knowledge about mixed martial arts and he's one of the most knowledgeable guys anywhere about combat sports, and MMA is a combat sport.

"He adds a lot of value to our company. Our business is literally exploding and we've had to bring in a number of key senior-level executives to catch up with the demand the company is putting upon us."

Commission chairman Skip Avansino, who was a college classmate of Ratner's at UNR, said Ratner will be difficult to replace.

Avansino praised Ratner for his dedication to the commission and to the sports he regulated. Avansino said few, if any, regulators are held in as high esteem as Ratner is.

"There just aren't a lot of Marc Ratners walking around out there," Avansino said. "I wish there were, because then it wouldn't be such a big task to replace him. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement, but Marc has a wonderful opportunity with a very successful and growing company.

"He's been a marvelous leader for this commission as executive director and we'll miss him terribly. It's going to be a daunting task to replace him, but we're going to put a process into place to come as close as we can to getting someone of his caliber."

Ratner played a large role in writing the rules the commission adopted that allowed the UFC to promote in Nevada beginning in 2001.

In its early days, the UFC was a "no holds barred" organization with virtually no rules. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called it barbaric and campaigned to have it outlawed.

But Ratner worked with the Association of Boxing Commissions to develop a standard set of rules that helped create the modern UFC.

"(The commission) never could have accepted it in the (no holds barred) days," Ratner said. "But once there were a defined set of rules and weight classes and such, then it became something that would work for the state.

"There's always fine-tuning and it's something I'll look at every day. How do we make this better and how do we make it safer?"

Ratner's first day with the UFC will be May 15. There is an April 6 UFC card at the Hard Rock Hotel. Ratner said he would recuse himself from all duties involving that show.

Now we know where all the fighter money went! lol!

F***! Now I know why he ruled against my appeal on behalf of Sims.

yikes.

Nice and cozy between regulators and regulated.

It sends a great message: do what we want and you'll get lots of dough. You just might have to wait a little.

I understand that it is not exactly rare, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

That's huge news for Zuffa and a major coup, his connections around the US will serve the company well.

wow.

Kinda reminds me of the FCC, in a way.

isn't that the guy from "fast times at ridgemont high"?

Brian Backer

NSAC needs to sue the UFC...you know, cuz this guy is stealing NSAC L33T sekrets~

I don't think NSAC and Zuffa are in competition.

This exacly like the FDA, Commissioners and other officials normally take cushy jobs with Pharm companies upon leaving the FDA, so long as they weren't too "contentious" during their tenure that is.

blah blah blah

If I had a nickel for every time somebody complained about Zuffa

If I had a nickel for everytime someone posted about having a nickel. . .

"All Pride rules were rejected by a guy who ends moving on to your main rival less than 12 months later."

That was the CSAC that rejected Pride's rule changes, not the NSAC that Ratner headed up.

When I clicked on this thread, I thought it would be a joke.

Looks to me like the Fertitta's are positioning Ratner to take Dana's spot.

No way--

Ratner is 61 years old. Ratner is being brought in to help get MMA legalized in NY, IMO, to have a show at MSG.