His last official duty with the Nevada State Athletic Commission came on May 13, and since then, Marc Ratner hasn’t spend much time wallowing in nostalgia. He’s knee-deep in his new position with the UFC as vice president of regulatory and governmental affairs, learning about the organization from stem to stern. He’s cramming info about pay-per-views, marketing and merchandising, and will be instrumental in getting UFC off the ground in holdout locales, like New York.
Ratner, who came aboard UFC on May 15, likes UFC’s chances of convincing legislators that organization isn’t the no-holds-barred fight club they may envision. “It’s all about education,� he says. “One of the detriments is that back in ‘93-’94, their advertising was ‘no holds barred,’ and we have to get beyond that. We have rounds, judges and the combatants undergo the same testing as boxers.�
Ratner, who started as an inspector in Las Vegas in 1984, is excited about taking on this new vocational challenge at age 61. “It’s a new learning experience and I’m excited to grow,� he says. “It’s great to be on the ground floor. But [my leaving] is not an indictment of boxing.�
Ratner isn’t prone to hyperbole and simply because he’s affiliated with the UFC, he won’t take the opportunity to kick the sport of boxing. “Boxing is the most resilient of sports,� he says. “There are always going to be certain fights that do well.�
In fact, Ratner was amongst his boxing brethren on Saturday, during the Main Events card at Caesars. “I’ll always be at the fights,� he says.
