18 Questions for John McCarthy: Part 2

Sherdog: You’re obviously well educated on the sport. You know all of the aspects of in-ring competition and are clearly knowledgeable in the politics and business sides of things. Have you been approached by anyone to possibly start a promotion?
McCarthy: That offer has been there for me. It's been there several times, and I've always said in the end, thank you but no. It's partly because I'm a chicken and a coward, but if I'm going to do something, it needs to be the right way. Everyone wants to go out and compete with the UFC, and I personally believe if you go out to compete with the UFC, you're stepping into an arena you can't win. If you go and jump on the back of the giant, the giant is probably going to squish you. I just never thought that was the smart way to go about starting and running a promotion, and I've turned down a lot of money. I look now and think "What the hell did I do?" but I'm smart enough, I'm old enough and I've had enough things in life where I realize money isn't everything. It's more about the people you meet, the relationships you form and life experiences that you feel good about. That's what you take with you; you can't take the money with you. I turned them down, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't take one if it was the right thing, but so far I haven't found one that was going to be successful and work for me.

Sherdog: Will we ever see John McCarthy as the third man again inside the UFC’s Octagon?
McCarthy: You know, TJ, I don't have any control over that. I don't hire myself. Dana's got problems with me, and that's fine. Dana hears things from people, I hear things from people. Most of them are probably bull. I've seen things where I say something, then someone repeats it and it's not even close to what I said. I'm sure if I got on the phone with Dana, we would talk for five minutes, and we could work anything out. I'm a pretty stubborn person, he's a pretty stubborn person. So is that phone call going to happen? I doubt it.

If I'm wrong about something, I've never had a problem admitting I'm wrong. I've been wrong many times. But sometimes people get mad and the madness carries on, and that's just the way it's going to be.

Click here to read part one of this interview. Learn how to ref with John McCarthy here.