Jeffrey Carl "Jeff" Blatnick (July 26, 1957 – October 24, 2012) was an American super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler and sports commentator. He won NCAA Division II heavyweight wrestling championships in 1978 and 1979 and won the Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1984 after battling back from cancer. During his wrestling days, he and Dan Severn were in the same U.S. National Wrestling Team. As a commentator, Blatnick worked UFC 4 through UFC 32 for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He also served as the UFC commissioner and was instrumental in helping the UFC get regulated by the athletic commissions, which kept the sport of mixed martial arts alive during its dark ages in the United States at the time. Blatnick is among the people credited with giving the sport of mixed martial arts its name. He was born in Niskayuna, New York, and was most recently an MMA judge for the New Jersey athletic commission. Wrestling Blatnick began his career wrestling in 1973 at Niskayuna High School in Niskayuna, New York. While wrestling for Niskayuna, Blatnick became the state heavyweight champion in 1975. After graduating from Niskayuna, he attended and wrestled for Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was a three-time All-American. After winning national titles in NCAA Division II, he qualified for the 1980 Olympic team, but did not get a chance to compete because the USA boycotted the games. In 1982, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, prompting the removal of his spleen and appendix. After radiation therapy helped to hold the cancer in remission, Blatnick competed in and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California. He and his teammate Steve Fraser were the first Americans to ever win gold in Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling history. Blatnick retired from wrestling after a second round with cancer, which required chemotherapy. He served as a television commentator during the 1988 Summer Olympics. Blatnick was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1999. He served on the board of wrestlers for USA wrestling and was also a commentator for the NCAA Division I wrestling championships. Mixed martial arts From 1994 to 2001 for UFC 4 to UFC 32, Blatnick served as a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and was officially named as the commissioner of the UFC during UFC 17. During this time he was involved in