In America, professional combat sports are regulated at the state level by government agencies usually known as “athletic commissions”, “combat sports commissions” or “boxing commissions”. Because this occurs at the state level rather than nationally, the laws, regulations, policies and procedures concerning the licensing and assignment of officials vary somewhat depending on the state in which the event is held. But generally speaking, this is how it occurs.
Once, a promotion (like GLORY) is licensed by the state and awarded an event permit for the date and location of their show, they have the right to petition for certain officials to be included in the assignment. The petition may be approved or denied. Often, the promotion is asked to provide a list of preferred officials from which the commission might select one or more.
All officials (judges and referees) are licensed by the state in which they will work. Generally each state prefers to work primarily with officials who are already licensees of that state because the commission supervisors are familiar with their work and a level of trust has been established regarding their competence and integrity.
For instance, the officials for GLORY 17 / Last Man Standing were all assigned by the California State Athletic Commission. Of the four referees participating, three were California officials and one (Al Wichgers from Wisconsin) was approved via petition to be licensed in California in order to work the event. Of the six judges, five were California officials and one (Vinnie Chapple of New York) was approved via petition and licensed in California to judge the event.
Once the list of appointed officials is completed, the commission will then select the assignments for each individual bout. Some commissions will solicit recommendations from the promotion (GLORY) or the sanctioning body (ISKA) while others will not. Usually the assignments are randomized throughout the night with each judge and referee being assigned to officiate roughly the same number of fights. The assignments for title and feature bouts will usually be skewed towards the senior or most experienced officials.
This method of appointment and assignment is designed to exist mostly independent of the promotion itself which is exactly correct. The proper regulation of our sport requires that a “third party”, in this case a government agency in conjunction with a sanctioning organization be responsible for determining and supervising who will be the arbiters over each contest.
Cory Schafer
ISKA President
