18 Questions for John McCarthy: Part 2
Part 2
TJ De Santis Mar 20, 2009
In part two of this exclusive interview, the most famous referee in
mixed martial arts, Big John McCarthy, discusses whether he’s an
enemy of UFC President Dana White, changes to the unified rules and
additional weight classes. McCarthy also talks about Affliction,
Strikeforce and whether he’ll ever referee the UFC again.
Sherdog: You were in the news after you had suggested some new rules be added to the Unified Rules at the ABC convention last year. The suggestions were sweeping the Internet and then sort of just went away. What happened with that?
McCarthy: It kinda did just go away, didn't it? You know what, people can say whatever they want, I was made to be the scapegoat of that whole thing. That's fine. I didn't say anything about it. It was voted on by the Association of Boxing Commissions, which is basically all the commissions in North America, both the U.S. and Canada. They passed unanimously. There was a lot of talk that these were "John McCarthy's rules."
Well, that's not true; that's a lot of things I didn't want to do.
A lot of people had input and say and when it came to weight class
change, I admit I wanted one weight class change. I wanted there to
be a weight class between 205 and 265. I think it's ludicrous to
say that because the guys are bigger, you can have that big of a
spread. If you have a 220-pound guy and he's going against a
265-pound guy the day he weighs in, but he's 280 pounds the day of
the fight, you're talking about a 60-pound gap.
Sherdog: You made an analogy talking to me before that we wouldn’t allow a featherweight to fight a light heavyweight. You said no one would allow Urijah Faber to fight Quinton Jackson, and I can see your point.
McCarthy: Who would sit there and say, “That's fair, that's okay”? They wouldn't do that. The more skilled guys get, the better guys get, that weight difference does make a difference. That was the one I was pushing for. All the other ones, I'm not going to say who put them in, but in the end, it was put on me. I know the truth, and there's other people out there that know the truth. There's e-mails, and there's film of it all -- those things are out there. The truth is there. I just didn't come back to defend myself.
Sherdog: Dana White was one of those people to say these were your rules.
McCarthy: Dana can only go off what he's told. He’s going off of, "Why is John doing this?" It's not John. I wish I could do things the way I wanted. It’s not that way at all. I was one person who was asked to help change the rules. There are still rules I want to change, rules inside the Unified Rules that I think are ridiculous.
Some people are always going to think everything is a huge impact. Some people are gonna say a downward pointed elbow strike is a dangerous, deadly act. Prove it to me. I have yet to see it. Heel kicks to the kidney -- I can sit there and throw a right roundhouse kick to the kidney, but I can't do a heel kick [from] the guard? Come on. Which has the power? Which is going to do the damage?
Nick Lembo has been a part of the rules committee for MMA in the new ABC convention in July. They'll go over the rules and they're gonna vote on it, and we'll see if there's any changes. There may be, there may not.
Sherdog: Will you be a part of that?
McCarthy: I'll be at the ABC convention to do an instruction forum and be a part of things, but no, I have nothing to do with the rules committee.
Sherdog: You were in the news after you had suggested some new rules be added to the Unified Rules at the ABC convention last year. The suggestions were sweeping the Internet and then sort of just went away. What happened with that?
McCarthy: It kinda did just go away, didn't it? You know what, people can say whatever they want, I was made to be the scapegoat of that whole thing. That's fine. I didn't say anything about it. It was voted on by the Association of Boxing Commissions, which is basically all the commissions in North America, both the U.S. and Canada. They passed unanimously. There was a lot of talk that these were "John McCarthy's rules."
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Sherdog: You made an analogy talking to me before that we wouldn’t allow a featherweight to fight a light heavyweight. You said no one would allow Urijah Faber to fight Quinton Jackson, and I can see your point.
McCarthy: Who would sit there and say, “That's fair, that's okay”? They wouldn't do that. The more skilled guys get, the better guys get, that weight difference does make a difference. That was the one I was pushing for. All the other ones, I'm not going to say who put them in, but in the end, it was put on me. I know the truth, and there's other people out there that know the truth. There's e-mails, and there's film of it all -- those things are out there. The truth is there. I just didn't come back to defend myself.
Sherdog: Dana White was one of those people to say these were your rules.
McCarthy: Dana can only go off what he's told. He’s going off of, "Why is John doing this?" It's not John. I wish I could do things the way I wanted. It’s not that way at all. I was one person who was asked to help change the rules. There are still rules I want to change, rules inside the Unified Rules that I think are ridiculous.
Some people are always going to think everything is a huge impact. Some people are gonna say a downward pointed elbow strike is a dangerous, deadly act. Prove it to me. I have yet to see it. Heel kicks to the kidney -- I can sit there and throw a right roundhouse kick to the kidney, but I can't do a heel kick [from] the guard? Come on. Which has the power? Which is going to do the damage?
Nick Lembo has been a part of the rules committee for MMA in the new ABC convention in July. They'll go over the rules and they're gonna vote on it, and we'll see if there's any changes. There may be, there may not.
Sherdog: Will you be a part of that?
McCarthy: I'll be at the ABC convention to do an instruction forum and be a part of things, but no, I have nothing to do with the rules committee.
