Report: “Big” John McCarthy To Retire on Saturday
Legendary MMA referee “Big” John McCarthy will reportedly be retiring this Saturday after he officiates the main event bout at The Ultimate Fighter 6 between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida according to report by Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports:
The best known referee in mixed martial arts will step down after Saturday’s UFC card at the Palms Hotel.
“Big” John McCarthy, who has been a referee since UFC 2 in 1994, will work the main event of The Ultimate Fighter finale on Saturday between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida and then announce his retirement.
Yesterday a media advisory was issued by The Fight Network announcing that McCarthy would be joining the network as an analyst.
As a referee McCarthy has officiated more than 500 individual fights and has refereed on nearly every, single UFC card since UFC 1 in 1993.
MMAFrenzy.com will be part of a press conference tomorrow afternoon where McCarthy is expected to formally announce his retirement. Stay tuned for additional coverage tomorrow immediately following the conclusion of the press conference.
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NOOOOOOO!!!! I’m gonna miss the big lug. Jeez, why couldn’t Mazzagatti go?
“why couldn’t Mazzagatti go?”
Lmao… Not gonna be the same without Big john. Though the one new ref at 78 was awesome. If there was 8 seconds of no action on the ground he stood’em up. No warnings, just get up and fight.
Its just not gonna be the same. For people that dont know a thing about the UFC, they do know the famous “lets get it on”!! by Big John. I am more upset about this than I was when Randy decided to leave. Big John is a ledgend and I dont know if refs can go into the Hall of Fame…but he should be an exception if not.
No way!!!!
“Big John is a ledgend and I dont know if refs can go into the Hall of Fame…but he should be an exception if not.”
AGREED
Can’t believe it, and my wife is upset too.
She loves Big John.
I’ve been wondering when he was going to be retiring and who’d step into the #1 spot. I guess it’s Herb Dean.
Good Luck Big John.
I like Herb Dean…hes not much of a fighter..but I would think he would be the next best. Mazzaggati is pretty good too.
herb dean stops a fight when he sees a painful expression on a fighters face, main events will have more disputed results now with big john gone, he would let the boys fight, something herb dean especially doesn’t do. i am very dissapointed
I really belive that they will induct “Big” John into the Hall of Fame. I don’t know how many of you know this, but he was going to fight in the first UFC. He is good friends with the Gracie familly, and it was decided that he would refaree instead because John and Royce didn’t want to have to face each other.
I agree with del about “Smokin” Herb Dean stopping fights to quickly. I would have to say the lead will goto Mario Yamasaki or Steve Masagadi. Yeves Lavigne has been around the block as well. Maybe Couture could use another job.
Big John is probably the most un apreciated guys in MMA the guy should defenitly go in the hall of fame Big john has been do this for the last 20 years of his life
for the dedication the comittment and for every thing he has done for this sport DANA WHITE PUT BIG JOHN IN THE HALL OF FAME
wow it sucks 2 see a legend go but i wish him the best of luck
jus an exapmle of how u say herb dean stops fights pre-maturly stops fights…lets think back for a minute here….i do beleive he was the ref for the tanner-terrell fight and if i remember corectly he let evan smash david around for like 45 seconds on the ground before he stopped the fight…thats the last one i can think of…dont really watch the refs when 2 guys r punching the hell outta eachother
on another note ima miss big john aint no one around who can take his spot in the game and i agree 100% that he should be inducted into the hall of fame especially for someone whos been there through it all with the exception of the first ufc event…im happy to hear that he is going to be a analyist for the fight network..
on an even lighter note and i know this aint the site to be puttin this…but is anyone else hyped up about the K-1 grand prix this year???? its looking like its gonna be a barn burner its free on the fight network for ya’ll who didnt know….sorry kris
Timberrrrrrrrrrr…….
The BIG mans going. What a shame (With a few shakes of the head). There aint no other ref to replace him. He should DEFINATELY be put into the hall of fame. He will be surely missed. Anyone who thinks he hasn’t put his time in deserves a brick in the face.
Mazzagatti thinks hes got the whole “Lets Get It On” catchphrase going but we can all agree theres only 1 man we want it to come from.
BIG John, BIG John, BIG John, Ya gets me, Ya gets meeeee
It’s sad to hear that Big John is moving on, though I wish the best for him. You can only ref for so long I suppose. He should definitely be in the hall of fame. Mazzagatti’s moustache is going to have to step up and fill the void.
sad day for mma
Big Bad John is going out to Pasture the only way He knows how; Standing!
On to newer and better things I wish him “crazy mad respect”,
Yo…………Now how’s about bringing in as referee the very well rounded and experienced MMA fighter and Rich Franklin’s best friend and training partner “George Curzel” who unfortunately has been on a downhill losing sreak of late. He was doing an awesome refereeing job on HDNet’s fight shows, as he literally took over the referee position single handedly while recovering from a broken jaw with it ‘wired’ shut if any of you have ever suffered a win that left you feeling like a loser with a badly broken jaw, then you know what I am speaking of. It makes it hard to breathe as well as having the driest mouth I ever had for 6 weeks running. Plus almost undernourished conditions that make it hard to continue a workout like George Curzel puts himself thru he is a “Warrior all Day and Night”!
He could bring in some real class and some assemblance of consistency missing in many MMA matches; what with bad calls, speedy stoppages, and some preferential treatment of late by certain ‘un-named’ referees in other organizations, watch it or MMA could go the way of Boxing crooks and scammers galore. Fighters were the ones left hangin’!
Goodbye “Big Bad John McCarthy” you will be sorely missed in the ring, as the third Man and as the lst. man, supremely dedicated to the right way! See you on the Fight channel and I’ along with many thousands maybe millions of your fans listening to your sage commentary.
In Freedom and Liberty,
‘DOC’
Dana will induct Big John in the Hall of Fame.
scotchy, thanks for the history lesson. I remember watching UFC 1 live and had no idea that’s why he ref’d.
I don’t think McCarthy has ever been under rated in the eyes of the fans, especially the long-time fans.
Vampslayr – big john did not ref the first event and im sure u jus had a typo in ur comment….big john did not participate in the first event cuz he was to close to the gracies….and didnt want to fight royce in the first tournament
I meant to say that. I would like to see a bizarro universe where McCarthy became a fighter instead of a ref. He would have jacked some jokers up.
I don’t know about any of you guys but I thought the “UFC Finale” was less than anti-climatic to say the least……
The commentators talked way too much and we were…….’tortured’ with commercial after commercial, having left little to no time for proper commentary on many of the fights, especially “Mac Danzigs” rear naked choke-out and subsequent rather- ’speedy-Tap out of Tommy Speer, Matt Hughes’s Golden Boy, so there was an almost Dead silence from Dana White’ what happened to the big Kudos, and Fancy Watch’ and Car that previous UFC ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winners like Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, etc???
I would be rather ‘ticked’ were I dissed’ out of hand by Dana White’!
I have seen his rather callous lack of candor towards fighters and fights that do not go the way Mr. White wanted or expected, hence the cold shoulder to Mac Danzig, the only mature fighter on the Ultimate Fighter series, the rest acted like a bunch of ‘PUNKS’ on their way out of a’Juvenile detention center’ no self control. Giving a Bad Boys image to the MMA opponents who see a ONLY a bad side to My favorite sports shows’ MMA across the board for me and my entire family since late 1993!
So I don’t know about the rest of you and your reaction to what happened at the UFC Finale Saturday night, but maybe you did not even notice.
I do not know any of you, and it is obvious since not one of you has bothered to even inquire or reply to my comments.
But what the hey? Do I really give a ‘rats patootie’ Naaa!
I don’t comment very often as I am not given to public forums like most of you! As many folks are accustomed to doing and thats fine so have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.. Happy Hanukah.
Doc’
I loved the fights on Saturday. I don’t think Mac was “dissed”, I am pretty sure Dana expected him to win. I would have been SHOCKED to see Tommy beat Mac. It was all just a test for Mac to get his name out there and see if he could hold his own against heavier fighters. He passed it with fliing colors, and I am sure Dana will be promoting his ass off.
On a lighter note, Coc, you sound suicidal. Why u so down bud. Merry Christmas!