Joe Rogan calls for more MMA rule changes as Tank Abbott slams Big John McCarthy

There was a time when UFC had no rules. In its early days, in the early to mid-90s, UFC was a tournament. There were no weight classes, no rounds, no time limits, no referees, and of course no rules. Except for a few things: eye gouging, biting, and low blows were all forbidden. During this Wild West era, before Dana White and Zuffa came along, one of UFC's early stars was Tank Abbott.

The California native's bar brawler-like fighting style and kill-or-be-killed approach made him a household name among UFC fans, but he never won a championship, and no one is more to blame for that than a legendary referee. “Big” John McCarthyRecent”Joe Rogan Speaking on the Experience podcast, Abbott explained his reasons, which prompted Rogan to call for the rules to be changed.

Joe Rogan and Tank Abbott agree that 'Big John' made the wrong decision

Tank Abbott felt he was badly beaten by “Big John” at UFC 6. At the time, UFC was a tournament format, where fighters had to fight multiple opponents in a single night in a random contest. At UFC 6, according to Abbott, “Big John was a big player. He …That day, I believed I could beat any man on the planet.” As “That day was a great day.” He advanced to the final after defeating John Matua and Paul Vallerans by knockout in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.

However, the former street fighter was submitted by Oleg Taktarov in the 17th minute of his last bout, which Abbott attributes to a refereeing error: the bout went to the ground about two and a half minutes into the bout and remained there for nearly 15 minutes, after which referee John McCarthy decided to stop the bout and reset it by letting both fighters stand.

According to Abbott, this “The only reason I lost is because Big John McCarthy stopped the fight. He never should have stopped the fight.” Joe Rogan was perplexed by this, as he felt that this was a misstep on McCarthy's part, as there is no rule that requires combatants to disperse if there is a lull in the fighting on the ground.

Additionally, the JRE host reiterated his opposition to the current rules requiring refereeing by stand-up fighters, as he felt this did not happen in the real fights that UFC was trying to emulate (at least initially).

“So there was no rule about making people wait. [at that time]”I personally believe that, and I've said it many times before, but I'll say it again: I don't think you should keep people waiting. I think you can trick people and keep them depressed. It's boring. Even if it's a boring idea, it's a reality.” But that wasn't the only time Abbott felt the famed mixed martial arts referee made a serious error.

Abbott cited another example of McCarthy ignoring the rules and breaking up a fight.

The UFC legend is back for another bout. Bas Rutten and Kevin RandlemanTank Abbott claims that the first UFC referee made a similar blunder, standing up for Kevin Randleman in a 1999 UFC 20 bout, at a time when the aforementioned stand-up rules had not yet been promulgated.

“My opinion that McCarthy affected the fight is the first fight they fought — I think it was Bas Rutten and Kevin Randleman — that was the first fight they fought with a judge on it. John McCarthy went in there and stopped the fight twice so Bas could get up and come back and fight him … that's how it worked out in Bas's favor.” He said.

According to Abbott, the decision by McCarthy went in favor of striker Rutten, who went on to win a controversial split decision over Randleman. Predictably, Rogan agreed with Abbott and felt it was a mistake, that the referee split them up because there were no rules yet in place at the time that required it. What do you think of Rogan and Abbott's take?