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Big John McCarthy

Era - 1990s / 2010s - MMA

"Let's get it on!" was the famous opening line to countless fights officiated by one of the most accomplished referees in the history of combat sports. Born in Los Angeles in 1962, and standing at an imposing six foot three, "Big" John McCarthy was a pioneer of mixed martial arts. He was backstage at the inagural Ultimate Fighting Championship event, and started refereeing for the organization at UFC 2, officiating hundreds of bouts for a wide variety of promotions over the next three decades.

McCarthy has been as involved outside the cage as inside of it, helping codify the initial Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, created a course for the training and preparation of MMA officials and recently has worked to solve the problem of eye pokes in the sport. Most recently, McCarthy has taken on the role of commentator for Bellator MMA.