Tag: John McCarthy

John McCarthy Rips The UFC For Using ‘Fake Stats’ To Hype Khamzat Chimaev

John McCarthyVeteran referee John McCarthy has let rip at the UFC for using “fake stats” to promote their latest star, Khamzat Chimaev during the UFC Vegas 11 broadcast. Chimaev improved his undefeated record to 9-0 when he wiped out middleweight veteran Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds on the night’s main card. UFC presenter Megan Olivi […]

John McCarthy

Veteran referee John McCarthy has let rip at the UFC for using “fake stats” to promote their latest star, Khamzat Chimaev during the UFC Vegas 11 broadcast. Chimaev improved his undefeated record to 9-0 when he wiped out middleweight veteran Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds on the night’s main card.

UFC presenter Megan Olivi suggested that by beating Meerschaert, Chimaev had reached three wins inside the Octagon quicker than any other fighter ever. Of course, we all know that isn’t true. Royce Gracie famously defeated three men in one night to emerge victorious at UFC 1 and that was something McCarthy was keen to point out on fight night.

“Sorry UFC & Megan Olivi but to say if Khamzat Chimaev gets a win tonight he sets a record for fastest time to win 3 fights in the UFC??? How about a guy named Royce Gracie who did it in 1 night at UFC 1 and then 4 more at UFC 2. Fake stats. The kid is great, but don’t forget the old guys.” McCarthy wrote on social media.

The retired referee explained his frustrations with the UFC on the latest episode of the Weighing In Podcast with Josh Thomson.

“The only bad thing in this is, and I get it, the UFC is trying to push him (Chimaev), and I don’t blame them,” McCarthy said. “He is a stud. OK, this guy is a stud. But the first thing they (the UFC) say before the fight is ‘if he wins this one he is the first one to win three fights the fastest in UFC’. And I am just like – come on man. You’ve got better stats to come up with than fake stats.”

“There used to be tournaments, OK. People can say whatever they want about old guys, new guys, modern era or pioneer thing. But look, the UFC was set up on guys were fighting three fights a night. Then four fights, and then it all went back to three fights for a long time. Then it was two fights a night. So why are you trying to come up with bullshit stats that mean nothing?” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)

Do you agree with John McCarthy? Is the UFC trying to ignore the old guard by spouting “fake stats”?

John McCarthy Talks Herb Dean’s Controversial Stoppage At UFC Fight Island 3

John McCarthyJohn McCarthy has offered his opinion on Herb Dean’s seemingly late stoppage at UFC Fight Island 3. Dean was the man in the middle when UFC newcomer Jai Herbert faced off against long-time lightweight contender Francisco Trinaldo in the featured preliminary bout of the night. In the third and final round the Brazilian caught Herbert […]

John McCarthy

John McCarthy has offered his opinion on Herb Dean’s seemingly late stoppage at UFC Fight Island 3.

Dean was the man in the middle when UFC newcomer Jai Herbert faced off against long-time lightweight contender Francisco Trinaldo in the featured preliminary bout of the night. In the third and final round the Brazilian caught Herbert with a punch on the top of the head and seemed to knock his opponent out. Dean refused to immediately wave off the fight and forced a confused Trinaldo was forced to land a few follow up shots before the referee finally stepped in to save the helpless Herbert.

Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy who was commentating cage side was particularly unhappy with Dean and screamed for the fight to be stopped live on air. After the fight Dean appeared to approach Hardy and a heated debate ensued. The Englishman told Dean to do his job and protect the fighters after a second late call in the same night. Dean was late in stopping a heavyweight bout between Tanner Boser and Raphael Pessoa earlier in the night. He has since spoken publicly to defend allowing the lightweight fight to continue.

Former referee McCarthy addressed the controversial Trinaldo – Herbert stoppage during the latest episode of the “Weighing In” podcast with Josh Thomason, he said

“Jai’s really good. Really talented. Good movement, a nice smooth stand-up fighter and he did well in the clinches and stuff. He was fighting really well. But, Jai gets hit and the shot that hits him goes off basically the top of his forehead. The top of his head and you see him go stumble back and fall the way he did. It’s like he got hit in the head with a hammer. And you know as the referee it’s one of those… It is an oddity knockdown. Not your norm. But when he falls how did he fall? He fell going backwards and was he still there?”

“No.” Thomson replied.

“Doesn’t look like it,” McCarthy agreed. “But, when Herb Dean sees him he comes around and he sees him fall down like this (motioning straight back) and he sees him with his hands in a position to defend himself. So Herb is thinking (Herbert) can defend himself and Trinaldo just stopped. Now Trinaldo stopped because he is a competitor, a sportsman and felt like he’s out. I shouldn’t have to hit him again. But, he has to continue on. So the fact that Trinaldo didn’t immediately go after him, makes it now where Herb really can’t stop it, in a way, because he is saying he’s in there defending himself. Could he have stopped it? He could have. But, there would have been people complaining about him stopping it. There would have been people saying ‘Oh you didn’t give him the opportunity’ to try and you know work his way out.”

“So you’re in that can’t win. You know the fact that Dan Hardy is friends with Jai, likes him and watches him fight in England. Well he got all upset because his guy took extra shots and ok. But, if Dan Hardy was the guy who got hit and went down and someone stopped it, he would be standing up like Dominick Cruz. ‘You stopped it too soon!’. Can’t win.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)

Do you agree with John McCarthy? Was Herb Dean in a no win situation at UFC Fight Island?

John McCarthy: Jon Jones Would’ve Lost To Alexander Gustafsson If I Wasn’t Referee

John McCarthyThe veteran referee turned popular podcaster John McCarthy claims UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones would have lost against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 if he wasn’t the man in the middle. Jones and Gustafsson went to war in 2013 for five rounds. ‘Bones’ emerged victorious via unanimous decision on the night but things could have […]

John McCarthy

The veteran referee turned popular podcaster John McCarthy claims UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones would have lost against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 if he wasn’t the man in the middle.

Jones and Gustafsson went to war in 2013 for five rounds. ‘Bones’ emerged victorious via unanimous decision on the night but things could have been different if another referee was in charge, McCarthy explained on the Weighing In podcast.

“Let’s talk about it this way, Jon Jones thinks I hate him. He actually at one point you know he wanted to, it was before the Daniel Cormier fight I think, but he came out in the media and said he didn’t want me doing his fight. And it was because of the fight that he had with Vitor Belfort in Toronto, Canada. Where you know, there was kick thrown and stuff. But it’s ok that Jon feels like ok you know he doesn’t like me. Is it that I didn’t like Jon? No! I really did like Jon Jones. And I’ll be flat out honest. Jon would have lost his world title if I wasn’t doing his fight at UFC 165 when he fought Alexander Gustafsson. There is not another referee that would have told the doctor ‘No I am not stopping the fight’ and let him go out for the fifth round. And let that fight continue. Because referees are not going to put their career on the line for a fighter. So there going to say ‘you want it stopped?’ and then do this with there hands (motioning to stop the contest) and the fight is going to be over. Alexander Gustafsson is going to be the winner.”

Co-host on the podcast Josh Thomson asked the referee for more details, he said.

“When Jon Jones fought Alexander Gustafsson he got hit with a, I think it was a right hand that was on the right eye, in the first round and split his eye open. And he went through the fight, second round, third round, and then the cut got a little bit worse at the end of the third round. At the end of the fourth round the doctor came in and looked at me and he says ‘you know what I don’t like the way his eye is looking, I think we should stop the fight’. And I looked at it, and Jon had just won the fourth round. You know, came back because Alexander was winning it but then Jon came back and won and almost finished Alexander in that fourth round. He was the champion and he had been fighting with the eye the way it was for the entire fight. And never was he dabbing at it or anything. So I looked at him and I said ‘He just won that last round I don’t think we need to stop this fight’. He goes ‘I don’t like it’. So I said ‘I tell you what, we’re going to let the fight go on and if I see that cut change at all, I’ll stop the fight and bring you in’. Right. So he said ok and he (Jon Jones) goes out and I am thinking to myself I am never stopping this fight. Ok, because I am not going to take someone’s title based on a cut that.. you know, I know what bad cuts are and that wasn’t… I am not saying I am smarter than the doctor but when it comes to injuries in fights I am smarter than the doctor. Especially when it comes to cuts. So that’s how much I hated Jon Jones.”

Do you think John McCarthy should’ve stopped Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson?

John McCarthy Suggests Reason For UFC Preferring Smaller Octagon For APEX Events

UFCUFC To Use Smaller Cage For APEX Events The UFC has a very specific reason for its preference of a smaller Octagon according to veteran referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy. The promotion resumes its fight schedule with UFC on ESPN 9 this Saturday which is expected to take place at the Apex facility in Las Vegas […]

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UFC To Use Smaller Cage For APEX Events

The UFC has a very specific reason for its preference of a smaller Octagon according to veteran referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy.

The promotion resumes its fight schedule with UFC on ESPN 9 this Saturday which is expected to take place at the Apex facility in Las Vegas — that is, pending the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s meeting tomorrow discussing the return of professional sports.

Should the event go through as planned, however, the action will take place in a 25-foot Octagon rather than the standard 30-foot Octagon we are accustomed to seeing. That’s according to MMA Junkie’s John Morgan.

“For all the degenerates, the analysts and the generally curious, UFC official tells me the Apex shows will be contested in a 25′ cage rather than the 30′ octagon we generally see at most UFC events.”

Morgan went on to add that the UFC prefers the bigger cage but certain venues don’t allow for it. McCarthy disagrees, though.

He believes the APEX facility is more than big enough to hold a 30-foot Octagon — the UFC just wants a smaller cage so that it creates more action with the fights.

“UFC operations staff knows it can put a 30ft cage in the Apex. The UFC prefers the smaller 25ft cage because they feel it creates more action. Fighters tend to like the 30ft cage because of the space. 25 ft cage came from WEC days and Joe Silva loved it. It’s just preference”

Morgan replied stating that UFC president Dana White personally prefers the bigger cage but that it’s worth asking again ahead of this weekend’s event.

“I’ve asked Dana before about using smaller cage more often, but he actually said he prefers bigger one for the look on broadcast. Sure it will be worth asking again this weekend since it seems they absolutely could switch out at Apex. Can’t fit at all venues, such as Palms.”

It’s certainly an interesting theory as the smaller the cage, the less space to move which only makes it easier for the fighters to make contact and engage with each other.

What do you think?

John McCarthy On UFC 249 Cancelation: You Can’t Go Against Government

McCarthyFormer MMA referee John McCarthy was not surprised UFC 249 ended up getting canceled. The event set to take place April 18 on tribal land in California was indefinitely postponed along with all future UFC events earlier this week amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While other sports leagues had postponed or canceled their events, UFC president […]

McCarthy

Former MMA referee John McCarthy was not surprised UFC 249 ended up getting canceled.

The event set to take place April 18 on tribal land in California was indefinitely postponed along with all future UFC events earlier this week amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While other sports leagues had postponed or canceled their events, UFC president Dana White remained resolute in resuming the fight schedule. That, however, all came to an end when he was told by the higher-ups at ESPN and Disney to stand down.

It was later reported that California Governor Gavin Newsom called Disney officials and requested that the event be canceled after expressing concerns that the UFC were going around the state’s stay-at-home order.

There was some irony involved as well as all the UFC was looking for was regulation in its early days — now they were trying to get around it. And while McCarthy understands why White wanted to keep the card going, he believes there is no way to win against the government:

“You can win battles and lose wars,” McCarthy said on the latest edition of his podcast (via MMA Junkie). “And that’s what in the end has happened here is politically, you need to understand, when you’re going against the government, you’re probably going to go against something that in the end is probably going to cause you a problem. And if you think that you could beat that? We couldn’t beat it in the past. It was a lot of problems and it caused problems for the UFC in the past, caused problems for the sport, and you start getting senators, you’re getting governors coming down on you?

“There’s lot of power there, man. And eventually Disney and ESPN said this is bad publicity, this is bad for us, we’re going to shut it down. It wasn’t Dana that shut it down, it was his bosses that basically shut it down.”

UFC 249 was originally set to be headlined by a highly-anticipated lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. It would have been the fifth time the fight was canceled if White decided to postpone the event.

McCarthy, again, understands why there was an attempt made to keep the show going especially as he, too, was excited to see the matchup.

But when Nurmagomedov had to pull out due to being stuck in Russia, the now Bellator commentator felt White was trying to keep the event going simply just to prove a point.

“This became almost this whole point of now, ‘I said I was going to do something,’ being Dana, ‘and I’m going to prove that I can do it.’ And his whole thing was the Tony-Khabib fight, and I’m kind of in there with him,” McCarthy added. “Let’s just be honest, I want to see that fight. And it’s been shut down four times and man, I don’t want it to be shut down a fifth time.

“I know what’s right, in that, there’s a pandemic going on. It may not be a problem for a young person, athlete-wise. But you’re going to have a problem where they have people they’re coming back to, and if they get sick and give it to someone else, there’s just bad issues involved with that.”

What do you make of McCarthy’s comments?

John McCarthy Talks Judges’ Scoring Criteria, Adesanya vs. Romero First Round

McCarthyJudging in mixed martial arts has been a huge topic this year as former referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy gave his thoughts on the matter. UFC 247 last month was a prime example of controversial and poor judging while the UFC 248 headliner between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero earlier this month also stirred up plenty […]

McCarthy

Judging in mixed martial arts has been a huge topic this year as former referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy gave his thoughts on the matter.

UFC 247 last month was a prime example of controversial and poor judging while the UFC 248 headliner between Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero earlier this month also stirred up plenty of debate when it came to scoring fights.

Although McCarthy acknowledges judging is not easy, especially when the crowd can so easily influence them, the now-Bellator commentator explained how effectiveness should be the main criterion when it comes to scoring a fight.

“The biggest thing we have to have is the judges understanding the criteria that is given to them and how to use it and then understanding in a fight what is effective,” McCarthy told MMA Junkie Radio. “It’s not what is flashy. It’s not the guy that’s moving forward. It is what is the most effective element in that round. Who’s the guy that created the most dangerous situations for their opponent?

“It doesn’t matter if he’s chasing him down. It matters if he is doing the most effective damage during that round. That’s what the judges are looking for.”

McCarthy then brought up the example of Adesanya vs. Romero which saw “The Last Stylebender” come out on top via unanimous decision.

The first round of that middleweight title fight notably saw minimal action with Adesanya advancing more and attempting more strikes. However, Romero landed a huge right hand that ultimately won him the first round on all three judges’ scorecards.

Although McCarthy personally would have scored that round a 10-10, he can see why the judges gave it to Romero:

“Personally, I knew at the end of that (first) round, I knew that every judge, my son was one of those judges, I knew everyone was going to go with Yoel Romero because he landed the one big right hand,” McCarthy said. “You saw Israel rubbing his left eye, blinking his left eye because a knuckle caught him or something, but it showed that that punch had an effect. That’s what I’m talking about: Who affected the other the most?

“I wanted to give it a 10-10 because neither, in my opinion, neither guy deserved to win that round. You didn’t do enough to win that round. You didn’t do enough for me to say you actually get an advantage over your opponent now, having one point higher on the scorecard, but I knew when the round was over, they’re all going to give it to Yoel, and I probably would have to because that’s what the criteria tells me.”

What do you make of McCarthy’s comments? And did you score the first round to Romero as well?