John McCarthy Returns to Refereeing

“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.

Dr J

Posted: November 5th, 2008 4 Comments Categories: News
In 2003, Craig "Dr J" Jolicoeur began what would eventually become MMA HQ. Over the course of several years and several different websites, MMAHQ.com was established and quickly gained a loyal following. The original and current aim of MMA HQ is to provide up-to-date news and information in the world of mixed martial arts. Today, thousands of people get their MMA fix either directly through MMAHQ.com, or through its news feeds or associate websites every day. Tags: John McCarthy, Strikeforce

4 Comments
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1. richard says:

   November 5, 2008 at 1:27 pm

   will we ever see him ref at another ufc event?

   Reply to this comment
   • Dr J says:

     November 5, 2008 at 1:31 pm

     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.

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2. R.J. St.Croix says:

   November 5, 2008 at 4:08 pm

   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.

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3. jjdnb says:

   November 9, 2008 at 9:11 pm

   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

   Reply to this comment