Big John McCarthy will return as a athletic commission official for the Zuffa ran WEC 46 event in Sacramento on Jan 10th. The longtime referee was a iconic figure at UFC events, before being blacklisted in Nevada for negative statements about the athletic commision and Zuffa.
One stipulation, Big John will not enter the cage as a referee, but instead sit on the outside as a judge.
“The California State Athletic Commission today released its list of assignments for the Jan. 10 WEC show in Sacramento, and there’s a surprising name on the list: popular long-time referee “Big†John McCarthy has been assigned to the show. Even more surprising is the news that McCarthy has not been assigned as a referee for the show, but as a judge. [Chron]”
For the latest on WEC 46, check out our MMA Rumors section.
Is this the SAC taking steps to ensure fair judging in MMA? A great start in my opinion. Especially in California, the judging there has been the worst of all the SAC's. We need more judges with a wider knowledge of MMA, these Boxing and KickBoxing judges only know limited amount of the game.
This is what I like to see. As soon as I heard about him getting the boot from ref'ing I said he should be a judge so we can actually get some good scoring. Excellent to hear.
hosan. he wasnt booted.
he left to work on tv.
talked a bunch of smack about the NSAC and when he tried to come back they didnt hire him.
But, yeah its great that the CASC will have a judge who knows mma.