Interview with “Big” John
Written By Penny Buffington





Mixed Martial Arts fans all time favorite ref. Big John McCarthy retired this year from the duties we loved to watch him perform. Since UFC 2 fans have just assumed he was a permanent fixture in the octagon. Personally I found it surprising and was interested in getting to know why he left the fast growing sport.  This is what he told me. “There were a lot of things that lead up to my decision. I was frustrated with the way some things were being handled in mixed martial arts. There was people being put into positions that had the authority to have a say on the fighters fights themselves.  There was people that were judging that had no idea what they were looking at. There was people that were refing that didn’t understand what they should do at given times and in certain situations, because they didn’t understand what the fighters were doing.  That bothered me. When I went to people and talked about it, it was always… [Well don’t worry about it. We are growing and we’re expanding and things are going to get better.] It never did anything to make it better. I just looked at it, after awhile, I felt like I was being a hypocrite."  He went on to explain,” It started out with MMA, from the very beginning, was a learning process for me and for everyone. But there came a certain point where if you didn’t understand the sport, then you shouldn’t have been a part of it. If you had the ability to be part of an athletic commission and get put into a space where you have the actual power to affect a fighter’s life or livelihood and you were doing that without understanding what that fighter was doing. That was what really got me frustrated. That was the biggest thing. That was a huge part of it. The other part of it was there were certain things that happened within the UFC that I was kind of working with. I didn’t particularly like. That was just a small part of it. That said to me, you know what, it’s time for me to walk away.”

John doesn’t complain without action. He is working with the ABC to change the laws that govern judges and referees. Big John told me,” The Association of Boxing governs all of the commissions throughout North America. We are trying to get things done as far as certification and education of judges and referees. They will actually have to go through a course. Prove that they know what they are doing. What they are supposed to do in a certain situations and know what the fighters are doing. They are going to have to prove all that. When that is in place, that’s a big step forward for the sport.”

I asked John if he would consider coming out of retirement. He replied,”I loved doing what I was doing. I loved working for the UFC. I loved working for the Athletic Commissions. I loved any show that I was doing .To go back to it, I always left the door open to, you know, someday I will go back. That could very well happen. But right now I’m doing other things. So am I going to go back? I keep saying yes, someday, but I don’t know. It’s funny, since I’ve retired, I’ve been asked to do more shows then I did when I was actually working.  I am so busy it is ridiculous.  Everyone is like, your retired, and I’m like, man if I’m retired….  I’m tired! I’m doing things all the time!” 


John told me about the gym he owns. “My gym is in Valencia, Ca. Its sixteen thousand square feet as far as size. About four thousand square feet of mat space. I have an actual 30 by 30 cage and a 24 by 24 boxing ring in there. I wanted to have a place where you could do everything in one spot. All the things that I look at that are important to being a mixed martial artist. It’s been open now coming up on 2 years and it’s been fantastic. I love the place. It’s been a great experience.”  I also brought up to John that I knew Owned Entertainment was in works to shoot a reality TV show there. “Jason Chambers from Human Weapon is part of it. Part of my thing was I wasn’t going to be part of it.” He chuckled, “I don’t have any desire to be part of a reality show. I’m loaning out the gym so they can do it and hopefully get some people that are good for it. I even have a couple of fighters who have tried out for it. So we will see if that happens. We’ll see how it goes.”

Finishing the interview with John he said, “The main thing I like to tell everyone is thank you to everyone that supports mixed martial arts. I really look at it like the sport came around at the right time, because of the internet, is what saved it. At a time when things were going bad the hardcore people kept it alive on the internet and it has just continued to grow.  The UFC is obviously the big show in town they’ve done a great job of marketing it and of making people want to be at the events and want to see what is going on. The fans of the sport are what make the sport what it is. I thank them all the time. They’re always very kind to me. Anytime you see me come up and say hello. I love talking to you.”

John’s gym:  http://www.bjmuta.com/
John’s webpage:  http://www.bigjohnmccarthy.com/


audio clips from my interview with John;

PART ONE



PART TWO