Gym owner to referee at Wembley
Neil Hall sees to a fallen fighter
A Batley gym owner has been awarded the prestigious honour of refereeing at this weekend’s UFC event at Wembley Arena.
Neil Hall, 47, who owns the Allegiance MMA gym in Bradford Road, will travel to the capital on Saturday to officiate in the world’s biggest mixed martial arts event.
UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, is the sport’s premier promotion company and was first established in the United States. The sport combines different kinds of mixed martial art disciplines and features the top-ranked fighters in the world.
It will be Mr Hall’s duty to control the action inside the Octagon as two fighters attempt to either knock their opponent out or make them tap, but being a refereeing veteran, Mr Hall isn’t fazed.
He said: “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been refereeing for 12 years now doing smaller events and last year I refereed in 10 countries.”
As well as being a dedicated referee, Mr Hall previously ran three other gyms in Batley and Dewsbury but now runs the gym in Bradford Road.
He is also coach to his son Dan, who trains at the gym and is currently undefeated at semi-pro level.
There will be 12 fights in total at the Wembley Arena including six main event fights.
Mr Hall will get the chance to officiate in some of them, something which he is very proud of. He said: “To be asked to referee is a huge honour. There are only a handful of referees asked to do this.
“There is no higher level event anywhere in the world.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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