'Big' John McCarthy not selected to officiate at UFC 104

haha big bad Dana White. He helped build the pyramids and lives in the Bermuda Triangle.

fans want good fights first, Big John is the best but it doesn’t down grade UFC 104 by any means. You can’t talk bad about your former boss and your former company and then pretend nothing happened….If that was me or you, the same outcome would occur, why would this be any different? Its business..

Dana was never John’s boss. He works for the athletic commission.

What frost said. This simply means that Dana has the power to strongarm Athletic Commission which can be the greatest or the worst thing to happen to our sport.

this is nothing short of a Tradgedy! Big John has done a lot for mma…and is BY FAR the best Referee in the business. Whats even worse is that Dana should not have this power over any athletic commision! Nothing would make me happier then seeing Big John refereeing the Machida/shogun fight!

This is just sad!

Where is Introvert at?

I’ve made my feelings pretty clear in other threads on Big John but I’ll say it again, this is disgraceful behaviour by the UFC and is making a mockery of the sport of MMA. They should not have the power to pick and choose referees as it hints at fight fixing, something that a new combat sport brand does not want to be associated with if it aims for long-term success. Dana is acting childish and crooked in this instance and all he had to say for himself was that Big John doesn’t love being a ref unlike some old boxing ref he knew.

I’m already sick of poor judgements made by referees and judges in MMA and boxing, so to blackball one of the best refs in MMA for a big PPV is taking the sport in the wrong direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a horrible mistake at 104 made by a ref who is only there because Big John wasn’t allowed to officiate.

I am a fan of MMA because it’s a pure sport free of greed and corruption, though recently my patience has been tested by greedy fighters and corrupt promoters. Banning top refs is something that has me worried for the legitimacy of the sport, it’s hard to appreciate something if there’s a chance that it’s fixed. Sports teams have no control over referees so MMA promotions and fighters shouldn’t either.

Like it was mentioned above, you honestly think if Dana could pick and choose so easily, that Mazz would still be reffing in the UFC? Dana loathes him. The fact that Kizer is miffed with John is the bigger issue.

Kizer’s pretty chummy with the UFC and it looks like they have some sort of influence over the NSAC and their decisions, this CSAC snub for 104 pretty much confirms it. Dana has made it clear that he doesn’t think that Big John’s heart is in being a ref and I think that’s just an excuse to prevent a top ref from doing his job because he took a job with the competition. The whole thing annoys me and makes me fear for the legitimacy of the sport.

man who stab their bosses in the back, after they made them a house hold name! Those business men

Ya cause Dana has never said anything negative about his employers or anyone for that matter.

Hi Dana sacksuckers

Daniel you are a little late to jump on the “Don’t trust Dana” bandwagon. Funny how MMA wouldn’t be around in North America if not for him, yet any time someone agrees with him you get called out for being gay for him. Lame, really. If you hate the guy so much(since it is the cool thing to do these days) don’t watch his product. Oh, not so cool to hate him now is it???

Also Big John was a household name long before Dana. People need to realize that White didn’t invent the sport or the unified rule or got it first sanctioned. This is just Dana’s way of handling things. It has worked so far and it will continue to work so long as the UFC is king.

Its never too late jay!

Hop on! Join reality its great! If you think this is my 1st Dana rant? Or I’m new to it? Buahahaha @ you. He built it now he’s slowly destroying it. Its time for a respectful human to be there alongside to slap his hand @ times and say “dummy up Dana, before you cost us another fighter”.

His mouth and lack of respect is why ppl are leaving like its in fashion. Not money. That includes not signing ppl.

*FEDOR
*tito
*randy
*huerta
*rampage
*hendo
And more.

Not just from money. These ppl aren’t ready to give up their dignity and respect for this scum. Their grown ups unlike you. Maybe your easy to push around and have no spine, but that’s ur thing. Not these guys.

I love UFC. I don’t watch it for Dana. I watch it for the fighters, that if you haven’t noticed aren’t all that happy, & are finally speaking up (ie: Anderson is gonzo asap cause he’s a Dana h8er too & h8’s the tie down restrictions of UFC)

Wake up guys

Rampage left to make a movie and ruined a reality show becuase of it and also left another fighter in limbo not fighting(Rashad)
Hendo knocks out Bisping and all of a sudden he wants to get paid like Brock, he forgets he lost both title matches in the UFC
Huerta also left to make a movie and said wanted a yr off
Tito and Randy were both found to be dishonest and are now back in the UFC
Fedor is the best but can make more for his Russian friends but not fighting in the UFC with a chance of losing

5 OUT OF THOSE 6 DO OR WILL BE FIGHTING IN THE UFC. Weak post again Danny boy. Even Fedor will likely be there as soon as he is able to break his ties to the russian mafia.

You’re assumptions that he was “cashing in on his fame” are just assumptions. Hell, the guy was just making a living anyway.

Were his commentary jobs and doing analyst stuff for MMA events most likely a direct result from his officating work, and did his officiating lend additional insight to his commentary?…absolutely. But to assume that his commentary work is somehow going to reflect negatively on any future officiating jobs is not something that would ever happen, IMO.

Ya, we will have to agree to disagree here. I believe it could very well happen that his new duties and job will reflect on future officiating. Maybe not consciously, but refereeing is a very in-the-moment kind of job.

Decisions have to be made in split-seconds and the subconscious predispositions play a strong role. Future gains from certain outcomes could very well come into play. That is why I think referees should stay away from other jobs in the same field and organizations where they carry out their primary duties.

That’s exactly why Athletic Commisions are under fire for accepting “gifts” from certain MMA promotions…that’s a greater issue than what John has done.

Whilst I agree that Big John got too big for his boots and thought that he was bigger than he was, it is still very worrying that the UFC has the power to blackball a top ref from their PPVs. That is too much influence and makes the sport less legitimate, athletic commissions should be independent bodies with no attachment to any promotion, promoter or fighter, that way they can fairly drug test the fighters and choose the refs and judges. Messing around with this system by having friends in the commission or paying them off screams of corruption and is something that I don’t want to see in this sport.

Part of the appeal of MMA to me is that it is pure and clean, with top fighters competing to be the best for honour not money and the fights are all officiated by the best possible refs who know what they’re doing and are only there to keep the fighters safe, remaining impartial throughout. If outside bodies can influence which refs are chosen then it’s worrying, as they could be paid off to fix the fight in favour of a talentless posterboy like Kimbo, taking away the sport aspect of MMA and turning it into entertainment. If I wanted to see that then I’d watch pro wrestling and I hope that any corruption stops here.

David, I agree that athletic commissions should be impartial and not attached to any promotion. In that case maybe there should be rules for referees also that they cannot work for a promotion (like john did as a commentator and tv personality etc.)

And Lorenzo being on the board of one of the commissions should also definitely not happen due to conflict of interest.