Steve Mazzagatti Must Be Stopped

I've always thought that referees have the toughest jobs in MMA (excluding the participants.) While judges render sometimes questionable decisions with relative anonymity, referees are forced to make split-second decisions that can make or break a fighter's career, not to mention incur the wrath of disgruntled fans.

Referees are appointed by the state's athletic commission, and as such aren't bound to a promotion or any one organization. There's a small and familiar pool of individuals who officiate the action inside the UFC's Octagon, including Herb Dean, Mario Yamasaki, Josh Rosenthal, and Steve Mazzagatti.

Mazzagatti has become the UFC's most popular referee for all the wrong reasons in the past few years. He receives his share of the usual criticisms a fan levels at an MMA referee - late or early stoppages, failure to dock points for cheating, indecisiveness, etc. - and then some. And then some. No other referee makes as many questionable calls as this guy. The short list includes:

• UFC 81: Saved by the Stand-Up
  Steve breaks Jor-El's rules and alters the course of human history, penalizing Brock Lesnar a point - with no obvious verbal warning - for punches to the back of Frank Mir's head. Mazzagatti's explanation: "Frank looked like he could use a break."*
• UFC Fight Night 14: Fingers of Fury
  Again, Steve makes a name for himself, issuing finger-poke warnings to Kevin Burns in his first bout against Anthony Johnson, and then abruptly turning around and awarding Burns the TKO victory for the very same eye pokes. Said Mazzagatti: "It wasn't even to the second knuckle."*
• Every Single Fight: Fighters Grabbing the Cage
  Stop blustering about fighters' grabbing the cage or each other's shorts, Steve. We all know you'll never dock a point or stop the action to discourage this frequent infraction. Mazzagatti's response: "I have a weakness for the fighters, whom I consider my children, and as you can see I spoil them...they won't do as they're told."*

The Ultimate Finale for Season 10 saw Mazzagatti make another giant mistake, one which may have caused a fighter to suffer needless injury. Jon "Bones" Jones was raining punishment down upon the face of Matt Hamill, and when he made the mistake of dropping illegal vertically-oriented elbow strikes, Mazzagatti waited all of three or four repetitions before stopping the action. (Note: the 3rd and 4th elbows look like they were the ones that did most of the damage.) Mazzagatti should have stopped the action after the first illegal elbow and given Jones a warning. Instead, Hamill - who apparently was finished anyway due to a dislocated shoulder, not to mention the condition known as "hamburger-face," was awarded the victory by disqualification.

Mazzagatti may enjoy this line of work, but the decisions he's made in the ring haven't inspired much confidence in the MMA community. After all, on what basis is any professional evaluated but their performance?

*Psyche