“Big” John McCarthy will return to action as an MMA referee later this month when he works the Strikeforce: Destruction event in San Jose, CA.
The California State Athletic Commission official assigned McCarthy as a referee earlier this week marking a “return to action” for the well-known MMA veteran ref.
McCarthy formally retired from refereeing last December and took a position as fight analyst with The Fight Network in Canada. Last month, McCarthy resigned his position at The Fight Network citing difficulties with the new ownership group at the company.
“I missed doing it,” said McCarthy. “Sometimes when you walk away from something and you think it’s time, once you’re away you realize what you’re missing –- it’s kind of like why guys come back to fighting. It’s what I like doing. It’s what I was meant to do.”
McCarthy refereed his first match at UFC 2 in 1994 and made his last referee appearance in December of 2007 at the finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Season 6.
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will we ever see him ref at another ufc event?
yeah, most likely. the refs are appointed by the state athletic commissions, not by the promoters. so in the states he is licensed in, he’ll most likely ref events.
the promoter can request certain refs for their events, but the athletic commissions are under no obligation to grant those requests.
good, good, good…. maybe he can give a few of these other bumhole refs some pointers on how to properly ref fights without making a mess of things. i’ve always said the best ref is one that you dont even notice is there, and Big John had that down pat.
yeah he’s a good ref but the UFC, especially Dana White has alot of pull and I’m pretty sure he could keep Big John off UFC fights if he really tried…at least keep him off big fights. Lets hope that doesnt happen