Joe Rogan’s Guest Tank Abbott Accuses Coveted UFC Ref Big John McCarthy of Being Corrupt – “He’s a Crook!”

One cannot fail to mention ‘Big’ John McCarthy when telling the story of mixed martial arts, or the UFC. The former police officer was not only the first referee in UFC (and consequently MMA) history, having refereed the original Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament in 1993, but is also credited for having coined the term ‘mixed martial arts’.

In addition, he was an integral part of codifying the first and definitive ‘Unified Rules’ of MMA, which are still followed to this day. Because of this, ‘Big John’ is an absolute icon in the sport, and almost universally loved in the MMA community. Almost universally. One strong exception being UFC legend and pioneer, Tank Abbott, who made some very very serious accusations about the MMA icon on Joe Rogan‘s podcast.

Tank Abbott surprises Joe Rogan with acerbic take on ‘Big John’

Along with being a NJCAA Division 1 wrestler, Tank Abbott has another, even more notable martial arts background that helped him emerge as one of MMA’s biggest stars in the sport’s early days. The CSU alum was famous for the many bar brawls and street fights he engaged in before coming to the UFC.

Abbott brought this street fighting approach to the Octagon and soon became one of the sport’s earliest stars owing to his exciting, unpredictable style of fighting. However, in an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the UFC legend got something off his chest that will come as a surprise to many.

As they were watching one of Abbott’s old fights, Abbot said some disparaging words about the referee, ‘Big’ John McCarthy’s decision to break him and his opponent up and have them stand up when they were grappling on the ground. This puzzled Rogan, who asked Abbott: “And so this restart was just completely because of him, ‘Big’ John McCarthy?”

The 59-year-old came out with an unexpected and equally vitriolic diatribe against ‘Big’ John McCarthy. “Yes, he’s corrupt and he’s a crook. His idea of what he thinks fighting is, and he’s a full on submission guy, cuz he’s all into technique. I don’t know this, he’s never said it to me but he’s all into skill and everything else. He has no respect for fighters fortitude or anything like that,” he said.

The former UC title contender believes that because McCarthy came from a grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu background, he was negatively pre-disposed towards ‘Tank’ and his no-nonsense striking-first style of fighting. He even claimed that the referee did not hold the fighters’ ‘fortitude’ and endurance in very low regard as he valued technique over anything else.

Joe Rogan, however, disagreed especially with the latter charge, and made it clear that he had great respect and fondness for ‘Big John’. But, Abbott was nowhere done and further explained why he has such a strong dislike for McCarthy.

Abbott claims he was kicked out of UFC event due to McCarthy

Abbott went as far as to say that the legendary MMA referee had used the respect and esteem he commanded in the sport to get him kicked out of an unspecified UFC event. “Well you might like him but he leveraged his madeup uh persona of ‘Big’ John to get me kicked out of the show. Him and his wife, they got me literally kicked out of the show,” he told Rogan.

This puzzled Rogan, who asked the California native why he felt the referee did this, to which Abbott had a pretty simple explanation. The UFC legend felt that because he had a criminal record prior to joining the UFC, and McCarthy had been a cop, the referee carried a certain disdain and dislike for him.

“Because he does not like me. He’s a cop and he doesn’t like the fact that I’m, probably in his eyes, a thug. But the point is he’s never liked me,” he added. What are your thoughts on Abbott’s claims?