by FIGHT! contributor Kim Schemer
Mixed martial arts is approaching its 20th birthday but the history of how it developed may differ based on who is telling the tale. “Big” John McCarthy has made a career out of being an impartial observer and now he, with help from Loretta Hunt, will attempt to tell that tale in, “Let’s Get It On,” tentatively scheduled for publication by Medallion Press in 2010.
The former Los Angeles police officer refereed the Ultimate Fighting Championship II on March 11, 1994 and has been an integral component of the sport ever since, traveling the world to work 535 bouts to date, helping to create the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which are the basis of state and provincial regulations across the U.S. and Canada, providing commentary for live events, and creating a training and testing system for MMA referees and judges called Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts’ National Development, or COMMAND. The only thing he hasn’t done is write a book.
“This book will document not just my career as a referee, but my entire involvement with MMA. It will show how things have transpired over time, and explain how things really went down,” McCarthy said. According to the ref, “Let’s Get It On” will include 20 pages of photographs in addition to, “great stories, inside things that no one knows about.”
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