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UFC exec answers reader questions in chat

July 17, 2008

Ultimate Fighting Championship executive Marc Ratner joined readers of lasvegassun.com during a live discussion that began at 11 a.m. Thursday. The chat came two days before Anderson Silva and James Irvin will meet in a matchup at the Pearl in The Palms. Ratner is a former Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director.

The full transcript is below.

Marc Ratner

Good Morning. Happy to try and answer questions about MMA and the UFC

moderator

How quickly was this Saturday show thrown together and how much does it have to do with battling Affliction?

Marc Ratner

The show was put together about 3 weeks ago and has Anderson Silva who many believe is the best pd for pd fighter in the World. All competition is good, we feel the exposure for MMA on Saturday night will be great for the sport

moderator

Why is the UFC not accepting the new universal MMA rules?

Marc Ratner

We feel as many in the industry feel that the weight classes do not need to be changed. The ABC didn't properly have input with promoters, fighters and officials to change the rules, there is now a Committee formed to look at the rules and work with all the stakeholders to make any rules changes whcih should be done at the next ABC meeting in New Orleans next year

moderator

What were the difficulties of Silva going up from 185 to 205?

Marc Ratner

We'll know Saturday night,He walks around at 215 so he should be strong at 205. It will be interesting.

moderator

When is the UFC coming back to Vegas, and what are the challenges with going to new cities, like Minneapolis and Atlanta in the next two months?

Marc Ratner

We'll be back in LV December 27th, there is no place like home for us, but in order to grow the sport of MMA we move it around and will have big crowds in Minneapolis, Atlanta and Omaha, and at this time working on possible dates in Chicago and Portland

moderator

Mark, this is a question about your old boxing days and your pal Chuck Minker, who preceded you as Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director before he sadly died of cancer. Like you, he seemed to have the best interests of boxing at heart. Had he lived, what impact do you think he'd have on the sport? And what do you think he would have made of the UFC?

Marc Ratner

As most everyone knows, Chuck was my close friend and we worked together for over 20 years. He was one of the top boxing judgges in the world, before he bace the Director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, I believe if there was a national boxing czar he would have been the man for the job. He would have had an open mind about MMA and as long as the sport could be regulated he would have worked to have the Commission adopt and sanction the sport

moderator

Will the UFC take against Rampage Jackson after his incident in LA this week?

Marc Ratner

We are still gathering information about Quinton's accident and will know more in the days to come

moderator

Please be honest. If you were stranded on a desert island and all they had was coconuts and pay-per-view TV, what would you watch while sipping on a pina colada — boxing or MMA?

Marc Ratner

As always it depends on the match-up if it was Corrales-Castillo or Pacquaio-anybody I would watch boxing, I feel like I have two children my older one is boxing and my younge one is MMA and I have plenty of love for both!

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