Report: MMA's only professional female ref officiated two WEC 35 fights
By Pramit Mohapatra
ReviewJournal.com has a short piece on Kim Winslow, believed to be the only professional female MMA referee in this country. With very little fanfare, Winslow officiated two fights on this past Sunday's WEC 35 card.
According to documents provided by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to FightTicker.com, Winslow was the referee for the Blas Avena vs. David Lee Terrel welterweight bout as well as the Greg Ray McIntyre vs. Michael Allan Budnick lightweight bout. Neither bout was televised by Versus that night.
According to the report, Winslow began training in MMA during its early days in this country and has quite a bit of refereeing experience in the amateur ranks. She is sanctioned as a referee in Oregon and New Jersey as well as Nevada.
Here's a quote from Winslow from the piece regarding earning respect from male fighters:
"They've always been very respectful. You set that up in your prefight meetings, so it's not like the first time they see you is in the cage. You let them know this is not my first fight. In fact I've probably done more fights than they've been in. I've never had a problem."
This is a landmark moment for MMA and hopefully will serve as yet another indication to casual fans and mainstream media alike that the sport is much more progressive and not as fueled by macho or barbaric attitudes as many would like to believe.
After all, the NFL still doesn't have any female participants or female refs. And, how long did it take before the NBA finally employed female refs?
The only regret with regards to Winslow's momentous act is that Versus didn't find a way to televise either of her officiated bouts. Seeing a woman refereeing big-time men's MMA would have gone a long way towards softening MMA's image in mainstream America.
For the story on Winslow, head over to ReviewJournal.com.
Comments
i didn't catch all of the
i didn't catch all of the WEC event but i think this should be bigger news. as long as the person, man or woman, knows what she is doing i'm all for it. in fact, i'm surprised that their are zero women refs in baseball, football, or basketball.
if she is competent, i dont
if she is competent, i dont care
just like any sporting event, the less involved a ref has to be, ideally the better
but as long as the ref steps in at the right time and able to perform, i dont care if its a dude or a chick
the only issue i have in terms of a female ref is just relative frame size vs participants but its not even a male/female thing. if you have a 100lb dude referring a heavyweight fight, i would have the same concerns (ladies just tend to be smaller framed than dudes, but it wouldnt surprise me to see some biguns outweighing some of the lighter WEC classes)
PapaBalsamo wrote: i didn't
i didn't catch all of the WEC event but i think this should be bigger news. as long as the person, man or woman, knows what she is doing i'm all for it. in fact, i'm surprised that their are zero women refs in baseball, football, or basketball.
Pops, there is at least one female NBA ref. About MLB, I don't believe there is a female MLB umpire...I know that there are no female NFL refs though...
And, I agree. It should be much bigger news.
i was gonna say the same
i was gonna say the same thing about that women are generally smaller than men. i guess for their own safety, they should be doing welterweights and below. i don't think any woman would be strong enough to push brock lesnar sized person off another person.