UFC 209: Judges, referees assigned for Woodley-Thompson 2, Nurmagomedov-Ferguson

The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) on Tuesday assigned the judges and referees expected to work the championship double-header scheduled for March 4 at UFC 209 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy secured refereeing duties for the night’s main event, which sees UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley attempt to defend his belt in a grudge match against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. Nevada regulars Sal D'Amato, Chris Lee, and Derek Cleary were selected to judge the contest, which serves as a rematch of a Nov. 2016 bout that ended in a majority draw.

Notably, Cleary was one of two judges that scored the first Woodley-Thompson match a 47-47 draw.

Fellow veteran referee Herb Dean was chosen by the NAC to oversee the night’s co-headlining bout, an interim lightweight title match between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. The judges in that contest will be Marcos Rosales, Junichiro Kamijo, and Jeff Mullen.

UFC 209 takes place March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card also features bouts between Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt, Mirsad Bektic vs. Darren Elkins, Rashad Evans vs. Daniel Kelly, and Lando Vannata vs. David Teymur, among others.