Big John McCarthy: "I walked away because I was frustrated"

Fightlinker.com has dug up a fantastic interview that former MMA referee "Big" John McCarthy did with TheGarv.com. In the interview, McCarthy -- easily the most recognizable ref in the history of the sport and one of the architects of the unified rules of MMA -- discusses a number of subjects, including criticism of other referees, the Fedor Emelianenko-Tim Sylvia fight, and MMA's potential as a worldwide sport.

However, McCarthy really opens up when asked about why he decided to leave refereeing. Here are some quotes from the interview:

"I walked away because I was frustrated. I was frustrated with the way some things were being handled. I didn't believe that there were people being put into positions that had the ability to judge fights or referee fights, that knew what they were doing. That bothered me. It bothered me because I'm looking at a judge that is gonna judge a fighter's fight and he doesn't understand what those fighters are doing. And this person has the ability to affect the fighter's livelihood. And it's wrong. And I felt like a hypocrite because I worked for the commission and they were allowing this kind of person to be in a position of power and to have that say over who's going to win the fight. I just didn't want to be part of that."

"It just upset me to the point where I didn't want to do this anymore. I love the refereeing. I love doing that. It's just people that are out there, they just don't know what is going on in a fight. Fighters are doing things on the ground, they have no concept of what is taking place. They really don't understand who is in control of the fight. They don't understand the techniques that are being applied. And if you don't understand that, how are you able to make an educated judgment on who wins that fight? You can take a look at the last Ultimate Fight Night. Evan Tanner against Kendall Grove. There was a judge there who gave that fight to Evan Tanner. How do you do that? I don't know. Taking nothing away from Evan, he's a great fighter, but he did not win that fight. And to say he did, it's a crime."

"That's part of the reason, hopefully what we're trying to do with the ABC is we're trying to get it where you have to have the certification before the commissions can use you. And certification is not easy. I'll be the one doing it. And you're going to have to know what you're looking at [watching] a fight. If you're a professional fighter and spending all of this time getting yourself ready for a fight, then you know what, the judge and the referee should have to spend as much time as you, at least in some fashion, understanding what you do. And if you don't have that, you don't have an equitable situation."

In addition, McCarthy says he'll most likely be back refereeing sometime in the future