'Big' John McCarthy wasn't amused by Brendan Fitzgerald's recent gaffe at UFC Atlantic City last weekend (March 30, 2024).
The UFC departed from the comfort of the APEX facility and chose the luxury of New Jersey's Boardwalk Hall to feature a women's flyweight main event between top contenders Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorotto. However, before that happened, I realized that there was a factual error in the fact that the godfather of mixed martial arts (MMA) was serving as a referee.
UFC play-by-play commentator Fitzgerald said at the start of the event that New Jersey was the first state to regulate MMA. This did not please Mr. McCarthy, who revealed the history.
“Really? What a bunch of horses — what's that line,” McCarthy said in the video clip. twitter. “How many times have you seen people talk about exposition or say things like 'do your homework'? If you're going to put it out there, you better make sure it's right.
“No,” he continued. “There were quite a few states that regulated MMA. If you look at it, the first state that regulated MMA was Mississippi. Billy Lyons was the Mississippi Secretary of State. The first one to issue licenses as someone who works for the sports commission, okay? How about Iowa, there was another one. New Jersey was over before the Fertittas became owners of the UFC.”
McCarthy, 61, retired from in-cage refereeing several years ago, but remained a fixture in the community as Bellator's president and commentator until it was acquired by the Professional Fighters League (PFL) last year.
