Big John Offers Take On Controversial Cejudo vs. Dillashaw Stoppage

The sport’s most famous referee and modern day MMA renaissance man “Big” John McCarthy has weighed in on the Henry Cejudo vs. T.J. Dillashaw stoppage. The world leader in MMA made their anticipated debut on the ESPN platforms last weekend. The evening culminated with Cejudo mowing down Dillashaw in just 32 seconds. To say that […]

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The sport’s most famous referee and modern day MMA renaissance man “Big” John McCarthy has weighed in on the Henry Cejudo vs. T.J. Dillashaw stoppage.

The world leader in MMA made their anticipated debut on the ESPN platforms last weekend. The evening culminated with Cejudo mowing down Dillashaw in just 32 seconds. To say that referee Kevin MacDonald’s stoppage has been controversial may be an understatement.

MMA Fighting‘s Marc Raimondi caught up with McCarthy at Bellator 214’s media day yesterday. “Big” John had something to say.

“When you say ‘good stoppage, bad stoppage,’ I’m not into saying what’s good or bad. Kevin made a decision. It’s his decision, he’s the one that’s got to live with his decision, along with TJ and the UFC themselves.

“If you’re going to ask me, there’s things that I want a referee to think about,” he continued. “If you’re going to ask me would I have stopped it at that point, no. I wouldn’t have stopped it at that point. This is the reason why: this is not a fight between two guys who are just brought together like ‘oh we’re going to match this fight up,’ whatever fight it is. It’s not, you know, Fighter A against Fighter B.”

Huge Fight

McCarthy continued on that they were fighting for the future of the UFC flyweight division. That gave the fight more weight according to McCarthy.

”This is a fight where both guys have earned the right to be in the position. They’ve both created a background that’s put them in the position of being champions, and now these are champions going after each other — one to save his entire weight class basically, the other to prove ‘those guys are not as good as me.’”

You can watch all of John McCarthy and Marc Raimondi’s chat below.

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‘Big’ John McCarthy Not a Fan of Ending Early Weigh-ins

Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy is speaking out against ending early morning weigh-ins. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White dropped a bombshell when he revealed the promotion is getting rid of early weigh-ins. Whit…

Veteran referee “Big” John McCarthy is speaking out against ending early morning weigh-ins. Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White dropped a bombshell when he revealed the promotion is getting rid of early weigh-ins. White said that the UFC will be going back to the old way of doing weigh-ins, where the fighters tip the […]

The post ‘Big’ John McCarthy Not a Fan of Ending Early Weigh-ins appeared first on MMA News.

Disgraced Mario Yamasaki Says He’s Going Back To Referee School

Oft-maligned MMA referee Mario Yamasaki might have 19 years of experience, but that hasn’t stopped him from some epic blunders. Yamasaki most recently came under fire after allowing Valentina Shevchenko to brutalize newcomer Priscila Cachoeira in a sustained beating back in February. Shevchenko outstruck Cachieira 230-3. You read that right; 230-3. Yamasaki took a ton of […]

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Oft-maligned MMA referee Mario Yamasaki might have 19 years of experience, but that hasn’t stopped him from some epic blunders.

Yamasaki most recently came under fire after allowing Valentina Shevchenko to brutalize newcomer Priscila Cachoeira in a sustained beating back in February. Shevchenko outstruck Cachieira 230-3. You read that right; 230-3.

Yamasaki took a ton of flack from UFC President Dana White for allowing the fight to needlessly continue, and now the Brazilian referee admitted he could have stopped the fight sooner and is now looking to improve upon his weaknesses (MMA Mania):

“I think they’re going to know I’m still trying to be the best that I can be. I’m not cocky, just saying, ‘I’ve been there for 19 years; I can’t learn any more.’

“I should have stopped it a little earlier, but I didn’t.”

“If you count for 19 years I’ve been reffing, how many were controversial? Four? Five? But people always see mistakes,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do. I just have to focus and try not to make any early calls or late calls. Reprogram. Do my job, you know?”

Yamasaki says he will be attending John McCarthey’s referee seminar during International Fight Week in Las Vegas to sharpen his refereeing skills following the Shevchenko vs. Cachoeira blunder.

In defense of the Shevchenko fight, Yamasaki says he wanted to let Cachoeira be a “warrior”, but it ended up being at the expense of her health. Fighters often don’t want to tap or have the fight stopped, but that’s where the referee comes into play for their own safety.

Do you think these referee seminars will help improve Yamasaki’s referee skills?

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10 Unforgettable Stories From MMA Referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy

Aside from the fighters themselves, surely one of the most iconic figures in MMA’s history is ‘Big’ John McCarthy. Involved in the sport since its inception, McCarthy has not only refereed an astronomical number of fights over more than two decades in the cage but has also had a major hand in helping shape the rules […]

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Aside from the fighters themselves, surely one of the most iconic figures in MMA’s history is ‘Big’ John McCarthy.

Involved in the sport since its inception, McCarthy has not only refereed an astronomical number of fights over more than two decades in the cage but has also had a major hand in helping shape the rules that provide the foundation for the sport today.

Throw in the fact that he also served for many years as a police officer in Los Angeles, and it’s clear that McCarthy has many stories to tell, and with the 55-year-old recently stepping aside from his refereeing duties to commentate for Bellator, now seems like a perfect time to recall some of the most memorable tales from his legendary figure.

Investigating O.J. Simpson For Alleged Domestic Violence

When ‘Big’ John McCarthy joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1988, he soon found himself at the door of a famous celebrity – O.J. Simpson.

Perhaps foreshadowing an infamously grisly incident still to come, the 24-year-old McCarthy had been called to Simpson’s house on Melrose Avenue to investigate a claim of domestic abuse by the former NFL star’s wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

She alleged that Simpson had hit her during an argument, but there were no visible marks on the alleged victim and McCarthy had a hard time believing that one of his sporting heroes could be capable of such an act.

McCarthy warned the couple that they could both go to jail for their accusations, and they both decided to drop the matter.

At the time the young, naïve McCarthy believed he’d done the right thing, but six years later he watched on in horror as Simpson was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife and another man.

”I know it wouldn’t have made a difference if we’d arrested him that day, but I never forgot how I’d been swayed into thinking Simpson was somehow better than the rest of us,” McCarthy admitted in his autobiography.

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Quote: Weight Cutting Is More Dangerous Than Steroids In MMA

Weight cutting and steroids are some of the biggest problems that loom over the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), but legendary MMA referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy says that the cut is more dangerous than fighters abusing performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). McCarthy joined MMA Junkie Radio earlier this week to discuss the hot topic and stated

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Weight cutting and steroids are some of the biggest problems that loom over the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), but legendary MMA referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy says that the cut is more dangerous than fighters abusing performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

McCarthy joined MMA Junkie Radio earlier this week to discuss the hot topic and stated that he has yet to see a bout where PEDs almost caused a fighter to lose their life, as opposed to where a weight cut did (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“There’s no fight you’re going to show me – caused by performance-enhancing drugs – that almost killed the fighter in a way that weight-cutting is doing,” McCarthy said.

“Almost 100 percent of fighters are going through weight-cutting, and they are doing things that are negatively affecting their health in a really bad way,” he said. “Although it negatively affects them now, they don’t understand the repercussions that are going to come down the road.”

Recently No. 1-ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov had a hiccup as it pertained to his weight cut. The Russian was scheduled to meet No. 2-ranked Tony Ferguson in the co-main event of UFC 209 on pay-per-view (PPV), however, after being hospitalized due to his disastrous weight cut the bout was called off. Nurmagomedov later claimed he nearly lost his life.

While McCarthy admits that a fighter has yet to lose his life cutting weight while in the UFC, something needs to be done before it’s too late as fighters will continue to seek out advantages by being the bigger man in a weight division, and cut as much weight necessary to do so:

“There’s a doctor that’s going to say you can go no lower than ‘this,’” he said.

“Now, (a death from weight cutting) hasn’t happened in the UFC, but we’ve had serious problems,” he said. “It’s a situation where we have got to start to limit what people can do. Because when we don’t limit it, we’ve seen they’ll go to extremes to try to be the bigger guy in the lighter weight class.”

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Chael Sonnen Says “Big” John McCarthy Should Know His Place

Chael Sonnen has suggested that “Big” John McCarthy should not rise above his station, in response comments made in relation to his Bellator 170 headline fight with Tito Ortiz. Sonnen, seemingly pushing for a rematch with Ortiz, claimed that the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” “verbally submitted” before submitting “The American Gangster” at the recent event. […]

Chael Sonnen has suggested that “Big” John McCarthy should not rise above his station, in response comments made in relation to his Bellator 170 headline fight with Tito Ortiz. Sonnen, seemingly pushing for a rematch with Ortiz, claimed that the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” “verbally submitted” before submitting “The American Gangster” at the recent event. […]