‘Big’ John McCarthy discusses the best in-fight trash talkers in MMA

Veteran referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy has been refereeing MMA fights for nearly the entire existence of the UFC. With that being said, McCarthy has served as a referee for some of the biggest fights in the history of the UFC, and has served as a referee for nearly all UFC superstars at one point or another.

One question McCarthy answered during a recent appearance on MMAJunkie Radio is one that is never far from the minds of MMA fans, ‘which fighter has the best trash talk in a fight?’

Unsurprisingly, McCarthy tapped not only both of the Diaz brothers, but also UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, who he says nearly gives his own play-by-play commentary for his own fight at times when landing a big punch:

“Nick and Nate, they tend to call people ‘bitch’ a lot. ‘How’s that, bitch?’ They talk. … At times, it’s hard for me not to laugh. Conor is the one – he’ll sit there and say, ‘Oh, that hurt, didn’t it? How’d that feel?’”

John McCarthy also pointed to his role in the 2011 scrap between Nick Diaz and Paul Daley, where both men engaged in an incredible amount of trash talk prior to the fight, with a near-brawl breaking out at the weigh-ins.

When the two men came face to face for the final time just moments before the fight began, with McCarthy in the middle, Diaz called his opponent a ‘bitch’. When the fight started however, it was Daley who dropped Diaz early on in the fight. Despite that, it was Diaz who ultimately picked up the win, in a moment McCarthy says is as fresh today as it was six years ago.

“The thing about that fight that is as fresh now as it was then is how tough both guys were at certain points in that fight,” he said. “It was the ending sequence: Nick hit Paul to the body, and you could hear the air (go out of him). You could hear Paul trying to suck in air, and he can’t. Instead of retreating, Paul went after him. That’s what I remember.”

on 5/2/2017.