Temre “CutMaster” Morgan: A Cut Above the Rest
Asif Jordan was quoted, “Under the surface of contradiction lies similarity.” Temre “CutMaster” Morgan may possess every ounce of contradiction possible to complete a person with a tunnel-vision drive to help others. The “CutMaster”, as you might expect, cuts through everything, but any incision is an opening for her to benefit someone else. Morgan is a cutperson with a passion for mixed martial arts and a wealth of knowledge that greatly benefits the fighters who find her in their corners.
As a special guest on The “Bad” Brad Berkwitt Show, Morgan covered copious counts of her cutting, which included: repairing any damage a fighter may have sustained; cutting through the tension that a body accumulates, either muscularly or spiritually; surgically opening patients and closing them up and teaching others to do the same; an ability to cut right to the heart of her passion for fighting; advertising the performance of a true comedic cut-up.
Morgan’s desire to assist others coupled with an innate draw to combat sports is the perfect recipe a master chef necessitates to create a product that the consumer is dying to cut into. The “CutMaster” shared her recollection as to how she found herself in the corners of others when it comes to throwing down,
“Fighting is in my blood. If I can’t fight, I’ll fix them so they can fight. Women’s fighting wasn’t the thing back then, so I went into the medical field. I saw that I could help them. I had the skills, knowledge, and chemicals to stop the bleeding and give them another round. I just jumped in.”
One may wonder the skillset a cutperson requires because a love of the sport isn’t enough. Morgan is experienced in energy work, massage therapy, and practicing and instructing as a surgical technician. These experiences blend together seamlessly to manufacture an aura that invigorates an MMA fans’ interest while soothing any wild beast in the heat of battle.
With the topic being cagefighting, Morgan could have seized every moment on camera because she spoke of the ins and outs of the sport as if it were one of her grandkids. Albert Einstein noted, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Any fighter with Morgan prepping them before, during, and after a bout would be in secure hands because she explained being a cutperson as,
“There is an instant bond between a fighter and whoever their cutperson is. They know they are going to be OK; they know that I’ll be taking care of them, so it’s one less thing they’ll need to worry about. I try to bring a sense of calm to them because they have jitters and they’re nervous. You try to transfer that calm and energy to them when you’re wrapping their hands. It really makes a difference.”
In case you were curious what kind of a difference a cutperson can make for a fighter, Morgan referenced an interaction with a fighter,
“I’ve had fighters who I had worked with during their first fight, but I couldn’t work with them for their next fight. After the fight I wasn’t at, they would directly IM [instant message] me and tell me, ‘I was scared, and I don’t know why. I was so nervous.’”
Much of Morgan’s ability to improve a fighter’s punching chance is derived from the tutelage of Jacob “Stitch” Duran,
“He taught me how to wrap hands; he’s the godfather, for sure.”
Rising to the upper tier can be overwhelming when ascending alone, but Morgan, under her mentor, has surrounded herself around a team of individuals, the International Cutman Association (ICA), who collaborate to accelerate their craft as cutpeople. The “CutMaster” proudly displays her ICA patch on her vest because she understands that the work they’re engaging in is for the betterment of the game. It may be safe to assume that the ICA comes together in a manner that Henry David Thoreau would recommend as a means to develop deeper, richer ideas by noting, “Associate reverently, as much as you can, with your loftiest thought.”
The ICA was an idea presented by Ferico Catizone and Michael Schmitt, Europe’s two best cutmen. In 2013, with the assistance of “Stitch”, they formed the ICA. The fundamental goal of the association is to standardize a profession that has been self-governed. Today, the ICA has sixty-five members from seventeen countries, and it is the largest group of cutpeople in the world.
The “CutMaster” carved out her time on the “Bad” Brad Berkwitt Show with the lowdown on the world of a cutperson, but she also demonstrated her ability to be a cut-up. When asked how she got her nickname, she recalled,
“I would tell fighters, clowning around, may the Qi be with you. They’d say, ‘Ah…CutMaster!’ That’s one way. Because I teach surgery, of course, there is a lot of cutting involved in that, and I’m a master at stopping the bleeding.”
Exhausting all the possible cuts one could perform, Morgan removed a blade from her sheath and shared where she resides,
“I live in Lincoln, Arkansas and Stillwell, Oklahoma.”
That’s right, the“CutMaster”’s property even cuts the border of neighboring states.
Playing the part of MMA fan and only having the perspective of the outsider looking in, parts and pieces of the sport’s inner-workings appear as fixtures, things of importance that are hidden in the shadows: the referee, the judges, an announcer, and the cutpeople who appear at the sound of a round’s end and vanish at its start. Having a Master of the Cut cohort offer insights into her sphere of MMA was not only entertaining, but she recreated the enjoyment that resonates with being a fan. If you were to thank Morgan for her time and offering an enjoyable conversation, she, like “Bad” Brad would like respond, “Fuggedaboutit!”
