‘Big’ John McCarthy on Conor McGregor: “The man can fight”

Referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy is one of the most experienced, and trusted referees in the sport of MMA. In addition to being an MMA referee for over twenty years, McCarthy has been on hand for some of the biggest fights in UFC history.

This past weekend in the main event of UFC 205, the UFC’s historic inaugural card at the Madison Square Garden, Conor McGregor stepped into the Octagon for a highly anticipated lightweight title fight with Eddie Alvarez in a fight that also served as McGregor’s UFC lightweight debut.

The fight was an incredibly dominant one for McGregor, who knocked Alvarez down just moments into the fight, swinging the momentum in his favor very quickly, and never giving it up as he ultimately secured himself a second round TKO win to become the lightweight champion, and cement his place in the UFC history books as the first ever simultaneous two-division UFC champion.

Of course, ‘Big’ John McCarthy was the referee for the bout, as he was for McGregor’s 13 second KO win over Jose Aldo, as well as McGregor’s UFC 202 win over Nate Diaz in their highly anticipated rematch.

Following the fight, McCarthy spoke on Lineup MMA to give his thoughts on McGregor, saying:

“I know what the guy’s got. Everyone always wants to sit there and doubt someone as far as, ‘well…but, but, but,’ look. Conor McGregor has proved…the guy has got talent. He’s got power. His left hand hurts people all the time. The only guy that’s stayed up with that left hand, but was knocked down multiple times, was Nate Diaz. And who knocks Nate Diaz out? The only guy I’ve ever seen do it was Josh Thomson with a head kick, and that didn’t even put him out, it was the series after that. Look, Conor McGregor, whether you like him or you don’t like him, doesn’t matter. The man can fight.”

So far there has been no word yet as to when McGregor will return to the Octagon following his win over Alvarez, however UFC President Dana White has explained that McGregor will be taking some time off from fighting until his girlfriend, Dee Devlin, gives birth to their child in May.