John McCarthy confirms he will not work as commentator for PFL, explains new position

John McCarthy shouldn’t be going wherever following PFL’s acquisition of Bellator. Nonetheless, his position will change.

McCarthy, a retired veteran fight sports activities referee who helped create the Unified Guidelines of MMA, won’t work as a commentator for PFL or its Bellator-branded occasions. As a substitute, McCarthy will probably be aiding the commentators and broadcast group by way of explaining and clarifying subjects to the general public from a guidelines and rules standpoint.

McCarthy confirmed the change in an interview with MMA Junkie Radio.

“I’m going to be staying with the PFL as a result of I had a contract with Bellator, and it nonetheless has a yr on it, so the PFL picked that up,” McCarthy defined. “Will my position be the identical? I don’t suppose it’s going to be the identical.

“I believe it’s going to be extra in direction of guidelines and rules, soring the fights and doing these issues – ensuring everybody understands what’s being completed, if it’s being completed within the right means and what choices do the officers have.”

“Huge John” McCarthy labored as a referee for a few years and was arguably the preferred referee to work UFC occasions given his lengthy tenure and high quality work. McCarthy stepped away from refereeing and joined Bellator as a commentator in 2018, the place he’s been commentating fights alongside Mauro Ranallo since.

He’s enthusiastic about his new position underneath the PFL and pleased to be aiding a broadcast group he respects.

“They’ve nice commentators with Sean (O’Connell), Randy (Couture) and Kenny (Florian) being their shade guys,” McCarthy mentioned. “They even have Dan Hardy. So that they’re kinda staffed there, so I used to be like there’s no place for me, however they really got here to me and mentioned, ‘Hey, now we have large concepts.’ So proper now I get to stick with the PFL.

“I have a look at it: It’s the PFL, they absorbed Bellator and sure, there’s nonetheless a Bellator, they usually simply introduced Bellator vs. PFL in Saudi Arabia. It’s a improbable card and I can’t wait to see it come to fruition.”