By Derek Bolender

If you’ve ever attended a live UFC event or other pre-fight activities, you may recognize the man – but may not know his name.

He’s most visible at the official weigh-ins. He’s the first man on stage revving up the crowd before UFC commentator Joe Rogan grabs the microphone to introduce the UFC management, octagon girls, and shortly thereafter, the fighters.

He’s Burt Watson – UFC site coordinator, part-time hype man, part-time counselor, part-time disciplinarian, jack of all trades. Despite a laundry list of responsibilities, his main focus centers on monitoring the weight of fighters throughout any given fight week to ensure they are able to compete.

“Making weight is a part of what we do,” Watson recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “It’s what these guys know they need to do. It’s disrespectful if they don’t. It shows me they’re not trying.

“We’re going to do what we need to do for them to get in that octagon because there’s a lot of ass kicking in that octagon. At the same time, we’re setting standards they need to go by to be the professional that they are when they make it to this level in the game.”

For a Saturday night event, fighters typically arrive in town on a Monday or Tuesday. This is when Watson, who first joined the company in 2001 at UFC 31, and his team spring into action.

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