MMAnomaly👊

“Do you wanna be a fu*king MMA referee?!” Well, here’s a wild stat for you. In 2025, MMA referee Marc Goddard’s officiating schedule spanned an estimated 163,844 miles, the equivalent of circling the Earth 6.6 times. There’s been a lot of talk this past week about MMA referees following the controversial standup in Moicano vs. Nolan. But with everyone’s focus on what referees do inside the cage, it made me curious to look into a side of the job we don’t always hear about. 41 events. 158 bouts. 14 countries. To put those 163,844 miles into perspective, that’s the equivalent of: 🔸6.6 trips around the Earth. 🔸 68% of the distance to the Moon. 🔸 59 drives from NYC to Los Angeles. 🔸 Nearly 16 days of est. airborne time. And here's the kicker: This assumes Goddard traveled directly from one event to the next. If he flew home to the UK between assignments, that mileage could be significantly higher. All in one year. All in one year. Obviously, not every referee is traveling anywhere near this much, but Goddard isn’t the only one putting in some serious miles. And look, I’m the first to call out a bad refereeing decision, considering how much is on the line. None of this is an excuse for getting a call wrong, but I thought it was pretty interesting to look at a different side of the job that we don’t often talk about. @marcgoddard_uk **Mileage and airborne time are estimates based on distances between consecutive 2025 event locations, not verified flight records.