"Big" John Leaves The Fight Network

“Big” John McCarthy announced Tuesday that he is leaving The Fight Network, and is leaving the door open for a possible return to refereeing.

His departure from The Fight Network seems to be less than amicable.  Among his farewells in his latest blog post (to co-founder Mike Garrow, play-by-play announcer Mauro Ranallo, radio host John Pollock, and others) he writes, “While I will not miss what has happened or transpired at the company, I am really going to miss some very special people that I have come to know and respect in my short time with them.”

McCarthy later adds, “To all of the higher ups that have taken over the Fight Network over the last year I only have this to say………….. Shame on you………………”

As for his next step, “Big” John may find himself back to officiating.

“A few people have said that I have attacked the UFC.  That is simply not true.  I have never said anything bad about the UFC.  I spent 14 years of my life trying to build up the UFC and make people understand how incredible the fighters of MMA were.  I considered myself very lucky in the fact that I was able to be around the UFC for as long as I was and you never know maybe I will go back to refereeing and someday work another UFC.”

McCarthy is the former head referee of the UFC, who debuted at UFC 2 in 1994.  Since retiring in December 2007, he has provided commentary and analysis for The Fight Network.