It's rather silly to make any comparison of my return to the Muay Thai community to the triumphant return of General Douglas McArthur to the Phillipines during World War II, but I can't deny the overwhelming sense that I've returned home. While the community and fight scene carried on without me, the sentiment I have received from numerous individuals was that my absence was truly felt... that the community was definitely missing something.
"Operation Octagon 13" (Saturday, October 30th at the Dulles Sportsplex in Sterling, VA) was my first foray back into the Muay Thai & MMA fight scene. I was contacted to referee the 10 Muay Thai fights, including two amateur Muay Thai title matches. It was great to so many fighters challenging themselves to step into the ring and I truly felt that all the fighters showed a lot of heart.
I was admittedly nervous. I hadn't refereed a fight in almost 2 years. I had concerns of "ring rust". (No, this is not a condition that only affects the fighters.) As a referee, my responsibilities are 1) to ensure the safety of the fighters, 2) ensure that they adhere to the rules, and 3) keep the action moving. This task was a bit more complicated than your typical fight event because the agreed upon rules of the fight were slightly different for each bout. A couple of the bouts were fought using full MuayThai rules with no additional safety gear. Other bouts included safety gear such as shinguards, elbow pads, or headgear. Still others had agreed not to use elbows or knees to the head.
From my previous stints as a Muay Thai referee, the blown calls still weigh heavily on my mind. While I can comfortably say that none of my mistakes as a referee has ultimately affected the outcome of a match, it still bothers me when I miss a call. It's especially troublesome to me because I am considered to be one of the most knowledgable local "authorities" on the sport of MuayThai. I feel that when *I* make a mistake, it's exponentially worse.
Throughout the first 2 matches of the fight card, I was anxious, my heart was racing, and I was sweating profusely. Sometime around the 3rd match, however, I settled down and really began to enjoy myself. I'm fairly confident that I didn't miss any calls that I should have made. If there is one thing that I would like to review, it would be how I handled the clinch. I wonder if there are some instances where I allowed the clinch to carry on too long when the fighting was ineffective?
Despite some lingering doubts about my performance in a couple of areas, I have heard from numerous individuals (coaches, fighters, and officials) that I did an excellent job and that there was a marked difference in the "flavor" of the bouts compared to when others have been the man in the ring.
I don't think there could have been a better "Welcome Back" message than that!
Glad your back doing what your soul was meant to do.-matt
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