The Ref’

He’s appeared in the cage or ring at just about every major MMA show in the UK. He’s trained in Boxing, Kickboxing, Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, and other combat styles. He also has an extensive military background with the UK reserve forces, qualified as an Army and Royal Marine PTI. A nightclub Doorman for over 10 years, he is familiar with violence and fighting.

You’d think we were talking about a fighter, and we are, only not a current one. Grant Waterman is simply known as The Ref’. He is at present probably, the most active MMA referee in the world, officiating over 1 to 2 major shows a month, Cage Rage, CageWarriors and Pride & Glory to name a few, with up to 16 fights per show.

He’s been refereeing now for about 6 years, and although virtually all the fights Grant presides over use UFC rules, he says that you don’t need to be able to recite the whole rule book to be a good ref, experience is the main factor as well as honest self-criticism and a genuine concern for the fighters welfare. In his own words,“It is not a Referee’s knowledge of the rules, or his grade in Martial Arts that make him a first-class and respected official. It is his ability to practically apply the rules, and to make split second, on the spot decisions, that are correct and fair.”

Grant admits to learning a great deal from the man himself, Big John McCarthy, watching all the early UFC’s again and again. ‘John has made his fair share of mistakes over the years, no-one’s perfect, but I don’t recall any fighter who has been seriously hurt and that’s what counts. He admits he has made errors and has learnt from them, which is the mark of a man with integrity and one who takes pride in his job’

‘MMA has seen rapid growth in the UK over the last couple of years with more and more regular shows happening across the country. We are already short of experienced professional officials and there will come a time soon when I will have to be more selective in which jobs I accept. I am hopefully starting a training camp this year for prospective MMA referees, but don’t expect to get qualified by just attending. You’ll have to be fit, dedicated, knowledgeable, professional, oh yeah, and handsome.’

Grant is looking forward to seeing MMA grow from strength to strength and would like to work alongside Big J M, one day (Dana are you reading this). He still gets the urge to fight, so one thing sounds certain, he’s not thinking of leaving the cage for a while.