If there ever was a guy in the MMA world that was hated by just about all, it would probably be Steve Mazzagatti, one of the regular referees that we see in bigger MMA events around the country. Mazzagatti has had some interesting calls and situations to deal with in the cage, and in a new interview with MMAFighting, he sheds some light on how it is to be Steve Mazzagatti in a world where Dana White is always calling him out.
It sounds kind of bleak, to be honest.
“Yeah, it bums me out,” Mazzagatti says while taking a break from blowing the fiberglass off his dune buggy at his home in Vegas. “I’m not out to make [Dana White] happy or anything, but I truly care about the sport. I’ve been in the fight game my whole life, and I truly care about the sport. I’ve always prided myself on enforcing these rules, and I have enforced the rules on big fights.”
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“As an official, I can’t do that,” he says. “I can’t go shake hands with Dana, or go have a cup of coffee. How would that look if I’m hanging out with some team and the other team sees me buddying up with them? It’s a lonely job.”