I got to sit next to Steve Mazagatti at a UFC fight night at the palms. And it was right in the middle of the days Dana was shitting on him. I had more than a couple beers in me and started talking to him about it all. He had a good attitude about it, he mentioned he was a fire fighter and he does the MMA refereeing on the side. He was completely different personality than I saw in him on TV in the cage.
I’m sure he’s happy in life. When I was talking to him he was acting like the MMA refereeing was like a very small side gig. I gained a lot of respect for him as a person, he might not be a good ref but from my 30 minutes of buzzed heckling him, he was very cool. He was working that night and sat next to me in between fights, it was pretty cool. I miss the events at the Palms!
Wait, Keith Peterson has a neck tattoo and he has a friend telling us he doesn’t drink? That means he used to drink and party like a motherfucker but he has chilled out now that he has kids.
99.99% of people with neck tattoos used to party like crazy. 89.99% of people with neck tattoos have felonies. 69.99% of people with neck tattoos have raped or murdered someone, even if they were never caught.
He pretends to highlight others as a way to gain attention for himself as being a ‘good guy’ when in fact his motivation is self-serving. He is a fake person who seeks attention.
Having said that. Keith Peterson is a G! If you’re going to vote in that silly award thing for a referee, him and Herzog are the real ones.
Yeah his old band has songs about drinking, doing coke and fighting. And he’s covered in tattoos. Knuckle tattoos and on his hands too. Refs wear gloves so you never see them.
The Dominic Cruz “booze and cigarettes” is very believable of I’m thinking if the guy I used to see 20+ years ago. No idea if he’s changed since then but I’m assuming he has
I laugh at how differently Beltran treats the fighters depending on the weight class. With the little guys he barks at them and plays tough guy, with the heavyweights he’s all polite and respectful.
Weird take. I’ve only heard good things about Mike Beltran.
Big John speaks highly of him a lot, the other referees like him too. I can’t recall any fighters having issues with him. I know he’s had a few bad stoppages but as a person I’ve only heard positive things
Just watched Gracie vs. Yamauchi from last night and Herzog was absolutely excellent.
First, he doesn’t have some cringey crap to start every fight. Refs that try to establish catchphrases and try to make it about them are annoying. He saw the fighters had touched gloves so he didn’t tell them again so as not to mess up some lame routine.
He let the fighters determine where the fight took place. When Gracie was down and Yamauchi was kicking his legs a lot of refs would have forced a standup. The fighters were having meaningful exchanges so he let them continue.
One thing I really liked, the first time Y called G up he crowded him a bit. The next time when it looked like it would happen again, Herzog stepped between them to allow Gracie a proper standup.
He’s just a smart, solid ref without some big bullshit ego. Like you said, respect.
Yeah I’ve heard a few other refs say nice things about him but I can’t remember who. He’s definitely a high quality ref. Not sure if he is a good guy or not but this is the first time I’ve heard something bad about him so I asked for a source. Seemed like the guy was speaking from experience but I’ll give Mike the benefit of the doubt because there is no proof.