Pa. State Athletic Commission Executive Director Greg Sirb
I've been talking to Greg Sirb on the phone for about two years now, ever since I started this blog and became aware that MMA's rules and regulations were making their way around the state. I don't think in all our interviews we've been on the phone more than five minutes a pop. Greg's not the type of guy to mess around. If you don't have questions for him, he's not going to offer anything. He runs a tight ship, with military-like precision.
Ok, so I'd never met the guy in person before, but I knew he was a badass -- because he'd told me so over the phone. He's a little fireplug of a guy, clearly in shape, probably still capable of wrestling and boxing the way he did years ago.
I was able to witness the weigh-ins the morning of the Central Pennsylvania Warrior Challenge, and not to kiss ass or anything, but the guy is hilarious.
In a small, dimly-lit room backstage at Wisehaven, Sirb sat at a table with all his paperwork. He called in the first fighter. After that, it was his voice booming, "Next fighter!" Each fighter heard the same line, "Take off your hat, sit down!"
When fighter Kevin Flinchbaugh gave Sirb his MMA identification, Sirb took a look at it, looked at Kevin and said, "You look just like your picture, ugly as sin."
Fighter Keith McDonald didn't have a copy of his ID, but Sirb did. Sirb gave the paper to McDonald to make a copy from, and told him to bring the original back, "If you don't, you'll have a fight before you have a fight."
Another fighter approached Sirb's table, spitting dip into a plastic soda bottle. "Please don't do that in front of me. That's a good way to get on my bad side. That'd just be a mess if you got hurt before your fight," Sirb said. After that, the fighter was all "yessirs" to Sirb.
Brett Evans checked in, then his brother, Chris Evans walked into the room. "Another friggin' Evans," Sirb said.
Sirb also asked fighters their age. Fighter Ray Eltringham struggled a bit with that one, or maybe it was just Sirb's tough demeanor that threw him off.
"How old? Uh, twen -, twenty-six, twenty-seven," Eltringham stammered.
"Don't ask him too many hard questions," one of Eltringham's corners said.
Fighter Ronald White, sporting a blue mohawk, was surprised that in Pennsylvania, amateur fighters get to have two corners. "I'm used to New Jersey, you get three guys," he said.
"Then go fight in New Jersey," Sirb said.
