Big John McCarthy Returns to the Mat: A Referee’s Tale at CJI 2
Big John McCarthy made his first appearance as a referee since his cameo in The Naked Gun film earlier this year, at CJI 2 (Craig Jones Invitational). Filling in on short notice was former UFC title challenger, “The American Gangster” Chael Sonnen, who would be grappling Craig Jones in the main event.
Having lost a previous match against Jones 13 years ago, Chael made it clear he was excited for the opportunity to get this one back. On his YouTube channel, he said: “Tell Craig Jones, not only do I accept, but I’m pissed off about it.”
Chael was choked unconscious in 13 seconds via a buggy choke by Jones. After waking up, he convinced officials to allow another match to take place immediately—where Sonnen would again lose by the same submission.
Big John McCarthy went over the details of the match with UFC veteran Phil Rowe on the latest episode of his Weighing In podcast.
“I’ve got to give these people Something” : Sonnen Tells Big John McCarthy
Regarding the short-notice matchup with Chael Sonnen, Big John McCarthy Tells UFC’s Phil Rowe his side of the story:
“Chael is 48 years old, and you gotta be honest about things. The older you get—and I hate to tell you these things—but Father Time catches up with everyone.”
Phil Rowe comedically threw his hands in the air and replied:
“No!”
McCarthy explained that while going into the back to check on the athletes, he asked Jones:
“How hard are you going to go on Chael? Be honest, because you two are at different levels.”
Jones responded:
“I’m not going to go after him hard. I’m going to put him in things and let him go. I’ll let him put me in things. We’re just going to put on a show.”
Big John compared this to Craig’s performance against Gabi Garcia at CJI 1.
On the other side, Chael asked Big John:
“He isn’t going to try and pop my knee?”
John replied:
“Chael, I’ve talked with him. He’s going through a rolling session with you. He’s not going to try and put you out. Maybe in the second round or so, he may start putting on some pressure—so if you need to tap, tap. He’s going to try to let things flow in the first round.”
Chael responded:
“Perfect.”
As the match started, Big John told Phil Rowe he didn’t believe anything significant would happen in the first round, saying:
“Craig’s not going to try and submit him. And being honest with myself, Chael can’t submit Craig.”
All of a sudden, Big John said he saw Craig set up a buggy choke, and it was getting tighter. He explained:
“Chael is just holding on tighter, which is only going to make the buggy choke worse. I see Craig squeeze a little bit, and I see Chael’s hand start to tap. I say, ‘Craig, stop—he’s out!’”
Jones looked at McCarthy and said:
“What! You gotta be shitting me!”
Big John elaborated that Chael’s:
“One eye was kind of fluttering, and he pops up and says, ‘What happened?’”
Big John told him:
“You went out.”
Chael responded:
“No.”
John said:
“Yeah.”
Chael then said:
“John, I gotta give these people something. Two out of three.”
Big John asked:
“Do you understand what a buggy choke is?”
Chael’s response:
“I have no fucking idea.”
Big John says he told Craig Jones that Chael was willing to restart the match and have another go. Craig Jones agreed.
Big John recalled:
“So I restart it, and all of a sudden he gets the takedown, he’s in side control, and I see Craig starting to hook up a buggy choke—and I go, you gotta be shitting me. He goes out faster this time, and it’s deeper.”
McCarthy said he told Craig to stop and let him go, and Jones responded:
“You gotta be kidding me, John. I’m not squeezing that hard.”
To which McCarthy replied:
“Well, you’re squeezing hard enough.”
After regaining consciousness, Chael told Big John:
“Three out of five.”
Mike Rowe then tells Big John:
“Somebody get Chael out of there before he gets hurt.”
McCarthy is not only a wealth of knowledge but also a source of countless stories when it comes to MMA and his career as a referee. He quite literally wrote the modern rules of the sport. His recent story about returning to officiate Chael Sonnen’s match is just the latest addition to a long list of memorable moments. For any fan of MMA, Big John’s show is highly recommended.
