Marc Ratner has seen it all. The former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the senior vice president for regulatory affairs for the UFC, he’s had a ringside seat – and a behind-the-scenes role – in many of the biggest and best combat sports events in recent memory.
Ratner rarely gives interviews, but he joined Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) founder Dr. Margaret Goodman and BoxingScene contributor Kieran Mulvaney for an episode of their “Fighter Health Podcast” to discuss his career.
“I would work with the officials, with the staff,” Ratner said of his time with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. “We would work on whatever fight was coming, make sure we had all the health and safety and medical requirements. It was busy every day!”
Some things never change: The sanctioning bodies were a nuisance back then, too.
“Dealing with the sanctioning bodies, they had people that they always wanted, and sometimes the commission and myself couldn’t always use the ones they wanted. That had some controversy. But overall, it was fun and it was exciting.”
Ratner offered some wisdom on how to match a fight. Records can be misleading, so you look at not just who somebody has fought, but when and where, to help judge the fighter’s true level.
“There’s a lot of guys who have manufactured records, and my best example was Peter McNeeley,” Ratner said. “He was 40-0, or 40-1 [Note: He was 36-1], and the big question is, could we let him fight Mike Tyson back then? The only reason we let it happen was because it was Mike’s first fight after being incarcerated, and we didn’t know if he could fight good or not. It ended up lasting one round, so I always second guess myself on that one.”
Speaking of Tyson: Ratner played a role in the infamous Bite Fight, having a vital conversation with referee Mills Lane after Tyson chowed down on Evander Holyfield’s ear for the first time.
Lane wasn’t originally supposed to be the referee – Mitch Halpern had officiated the first bout superbly but bowed out of the rematch due to objections from the Tyson camp. So it was Lane who conferred with Ratner.
“Sitting there ringside, I saw Evander jumping up and down,” Ratner said. “I thought possibly Tyson had kneed him and his cup had pinched him. And then Mills called me up to the ring apron, and he said, ‘He bit him, I’m gonna disqualify him.’ Being a referee in other sports, any time they say they’re gonna eject or disqualify a player, you’re always asking, ‘Are you sure?’ That’s all I asked him. And then he said, ‘Let’s bring up Dr. Flip, Dr. Homansky, to look at Evander’s ear.’ Dr. Flip looked at it and said, ‘He can still fight.’”
The rest is history – another angry chomp on poor Evander’s cartilage, a disqualification, a melee.
“If you remember, we fined him $3 million and revoked his license, so it took a year off his career,” Ratner said. “But then he came back.”
Ratner has clashed with promoters before, as it fell to him to deal with the fallout of a controversial decision. He would meet with judges afterwards, which he felt was the hardest part of the gig. He remembers Bob Arum of Top Rank being particularly incensed about the decision in the Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad fight.
“Eventually, maybe three or four weeks later, I had to take [Arum] to lunch and talk it over with him,” Ratner recalled. “It’s tough. I certainly had some problems with Mr. [Don] King, too. That all came with it. All’s I can ever tell any of these people – I don’t judge them myself, we try to have the right officials in there.”
That said, there’s something to a little controversy, even if it’s not to be aspired to.
“I’ve always believed if there were no controversies, we probably wouldn’t have had very many rematches either,” Ratner said. “So sometimes controversy works in a positive way, but I’d rather have a controversy in New York than Vegas.”
There was also a somber note to Ratner’s interview. After all, for all of the fun stories and inexplicable moments in this sport, tragedy is inevitable.
“We also had people pass away during my time,” Ratner said. “I can never escape talking about that, because it happened. Thank goodness since I’ve been gone, there [have] been no problems here in Nevada, at least to my knowledge. Those are the worst moments, and it always stays with me.”