The Triangle Choke: Big John McCarthy Interview
Big John McCarthy is the most recognizable referee in all of mixed martial arts, in fact, possibly in all of sports. Big John isn’t known for missing a big call or getting in a verbal sparring match with an athlete, instead he is known for the most popular phrase in all of MMA, “Let’s Get it On”! Big John isn’t currently in the UFC scene but he is far from retired as he spans the globe officiating MMA bouts for several organizations. In the midst of his travels, Big John took some time to discuss his career, Bully Beatdown, the sport and his ROUND 5 MMA figurine.
SD- Speak about your background in MMA from a training perspective.
JM- I’ve been around MMA since the beginning. Now I’m old and broken but still trying to do some things. I like to get down and grapple some still. I still like to box some. I really enjoy doing martial arts.
SD- Looking back to when you officiated some of the early UFC events, did you ever think the sport would grow to where it is at today?
JM- In the very beginning I thought it would catch on. Because of the way I was with it and the way I saw it I thought it would explode. It really started to then with the political pressure and with everything that happened; I began to think maybe it won’t take off. It’s like anything in life; there are a lot of things that aren’t immediate successes, they go through hard times then they make it. You look at the success now and it’s amazing how popular the sport is. I thought it would be huge in the beginning. I thought people would like it but I never thought it would be as big as its becoming now.
SD- You retired a few years ago from the UFC. What brought about that decision?
JM- There were a lot of things. I was in a position where I was not able to make people happy. There were too many sides I was trying to make happy. I thought it would be simpler just to walk away and that is what I did. It was a good decision for me. I’m happy what I’m doing now. Just because everything looks great doesn’t mean it is. I love the UFC and they treated me very well. It was just I couldn’t make certain people happy and it was time to get away from that and see if I could do something else for awhile.
SD- Your famous line of “Let’s Get It On,” did you come up with that?
JM- That came about in the dumbest way. Art Davie was the promoter of the UFC at the time. At UFC 2, which was my 1 st time, Art came up to me and stated he wanted me to start the fight with a hand signal and some sort of verbal statement. I said, OK what do you want. He told me to come up with it. I said what the hell do you want me to come up with, I have no idea Art. I said how about I look at both guys, who are ready to kill each other, and ask them if they are ready and then say let’s get it on. Honest to God that is how it started
SD- You have come back to the cage officiating matches. You were recently at Affliction. Do you plan on officiating more often?
JM- I’ve been in the cage a lot with several different shows. It’s just shows that no one knows about. I’ve been very busy. My schedule is packed. I’m doing a show in Canada then a show in China. I’m busy all the time doing shows all over the place and I’m having a ball.
SD- You have also officiated MTV’s Bully Beatdown. How did that come about?
JM- That actually came about through a friend of mine who was part of The Contender. He works on Bully Beatdown and suggested they contact me. They sent me the pilot and asked if I would be interested. I thought it would be a lot of fun so I said yes. I thought it was funny the 1 st time I watched it. It’s a funny concept and Jason Miller is as funny as hell. It turned out well it was fun to do.
SD- Maybe more than anything else, the fact that Jason “Mayhem” Miller is technically a TV actor shows the immense popularity of MMA. Would you agree with that?
JM- (Laughs) You know what, I look at everything and the way it comes about and you look at Jason and think, who can do that well and you think of Jason. He does a great job with it in part because he is crazy. If you know Jason you know he is a little whacked at times. He is the perfect person to do that.
SD- Now you have your own Round 5 MMA figurine on the market. Talk about the figurine and what that means to you.
JM- I had a friend tell me the other day, you know think about it, if 25 years ago someone sat you down and said this is what you are going to do; you are going to do this, you are going to do that, then you are going to have a doll of yourself in the stores, would you have ever believed it. Hell no I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s remarkable that I’m actually going to have a figurine made with my ugly likeness. The Round 5 guys were a lot of fun to work with. The whole process they go through was very enjoyable. It was enjoyable for me and I’m sure it was enjoyable for the other athletes who have done it.
SD- They do a great job with the those. Their likeness is amazing.
JM- I’ve always like the cartoonish figurines. Pride Fighting had those awhile back. I think Round 5 does a great job of making the figurines look like the person but in a cartoon form. Some of them I think are incredible. Tito Ortiz is great. I love Rampage Jackson. Rich Franklin’s is perfect. He has the arms out like in the multiple wins he has had. Wanderlei Silva has the perfect pose. I can’t wait for the next series to come out.
SD- Hopefully for you sake they don’t put your figurine on the shelf next to Gina Carano.
JM- Hopefully they put us together. Maybe people will make a mistake and grab two.
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SD- I’m going to put you on the spot. My favorite MMA moment was in Columbus, OH at UFC 68 when Randy Couture defeated Tim Sylvia. What has been your favorite moment?
JM- That is such a hard question for me to answer. There are so many small things that were so special for me. For one, the day I got my license in Nevada. That was very special to have Mark Ratner give me my license for the state of Nevada was incredible. Nevada was probably the major sporting commission when it comes to fighting. Regarding the fights I’ve done, a bunch of them were special. In the early part of the UFC, being able to be in there with Royce Gracie was incredible. The fights he had with Ken Shamrock were special. Later on, Tito Ortiz vs. Frank Shamrock, I loved that fight. When the new UFC came on behind the Fertitta brothers, they put the Ken Shamrock-Tito Ortiz bouts together, those were special. The energy for that fight was more than anything I have ever been a part of in the UFC up to that point. You talk about UFC 68 with Randy Couture’s come back against Tim Sylvia; I have never saw a crowd stay on its feet like that for a 25 minute fight. The crowd was counting down the last 10 seconds of the fight. I have never heard a crowd do that. That was a remarkable place to be.
SD- One final question, in your mind who is the greatest fighter in the world regardless of weight class?
JM- The best fighter is Fedor. He is the Heavyweight Champion of the world in a lot of people’s opinion except for UFC where he doesn’t compete. No one has beaten him. There are a few who have come close but couldn’t pull it off. His only loss was due to a cut via an illegal strike which should have been a no contest. For an MMA fighter to go through his career without having a loss is absolutely incredible. For a heavyweight he is incredibly explosive, super fast, he hits hard and he has a well rounded game. There is nobody on the planet, be it guys you look at like BJ Penn, GSP, Anderson Silva, that you can put in the ring that can compete with him. So to me, that is the best fighter.
For info on Big John’s figurine visit www.round5mma.com.
By Scott Dryden
ProFighting-fans.com Editor-in-Chief