The fighters are facing off, one is staring at the floor while the other, knowing it's not within him to pull a twisted angry face like Diego Sanchez does, stares at the other man's face.

Big John is standing between them talking fast and telling them to obey his commands and to have a fair fight. Then he asks, "Georges, do you have any questions?" Georges mechanically shakes his head. Big John turns to the other fighter, "Josh, do you have any questions?"

"Uh, yeah -- hey, Big John, I was, uh, wondering if I get poked in the eye how long is it that I have to recover? I keep forgetting."

"Five minutes."

Big John then starts to tell the fighters to get into position but Josh interjects. "Wait, I have another question. What if Georges--" Big John cuts him off and tells him to pull his fucking head in and fight already.

Is it really necessary to ask the fighters if they have any questions? Surely the fighters ask their questions in the locker room before the fight or whenever they get the opportunity to do so.

Yet I've noticed some refs don't even ask the question which indicates that it must be a part of each ref's own little pre-fight, in-cage repertoire, much like his own call sign such as, "Let's get it on!" or "Let's play ball!" (okay, I've never heard one of them say the latter, but you never know).

Obviously this isn't a real matter of importance, but a matter of curiosity. So my question about their need to ask a question about asking questions is, why ask it in the first place?