The Minnesota Combative Sports Commission will be holding their first training seminar to become a mixed martial arts judge or referee this coming Saturday, April 3 at the World Taekwondo Academy in Maple Grove.
This is the first time the State has done one of these seminars in almost two years, since August of 2008. While they are planning to do a second one later this year, if there are enough good applicants from this session, another one might not be necessary.
It costs just $45, which will be payable at the door. They would prefer if you pay in cash, but checks will be accepted as well. Credit cards are not accepted.
The referee seminar will be given by UFC veteran referee Daryl Guthmiller and former UFC/WEC fighter Brock Larson. The judging portion will be taught by UFC veteran referee Vinny Gargiulo.
The seminar runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with two hours of class room training and two hours of "in cage" instruction, where Guthmiller and Larson will explain various holds that a beginning referee or judge would need to be aware of.
After the seminar, people interested in getting licensed will have to take a written test, which should take less then a half an hour.
This training is the first step in getting a license. Once you have completed the training and passed the exam you will then be able to apply for an "amateur" referee or judge license. You will then need to work about five or six events before you can apply for an official "professional" license.
For judges, you'll attend events and judge 50 fights just like a professional judge does, but your scores will not count as one of the three official judges assigned to the event. For referees, you'll attend two shows and sit cage side, and then after that you'll get in the cage and referee 50 amateur fights over the next year.
