The UFC’s broadcast team is filled with many legendary personalities, such as Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, Paul Felder, and of course, Jon Anik as the play-by-play commentator. However veteran MMA referee John McCarthy believes there’s a need for an addition. The 62-year-old veteran recently offered himself for the coveted role, but guess what? This proposition from McCarthy didn’t sit too well with the MMA fandom, who made their feelings clear about him sharing seats with the cage-side commentators.

Currently, besides the commentary team that includes the popular trio of Joe Rogan, Jon Anik, and Daniel Cormier, the UFC broadcast team includes a technical analyst, Din Thomas. John McCarthy believes that the UFC should take a step in the direction of leagues like the NFL and NBA, which include a rules analyst for every game. For that, the veteran referee claims to be open to working with Dana White’s promotion and donning that role.

“I don’t know if the UFC would want me, but yeah, I could do it with the UFC. And I’m being honest, I think it’s something the UFC needs,” John McCarthy told MMA Junkie. “Their commentators are there to explain the ins and outs of fighting to the fans. To sit there and expect them to know all the rules and what the mechanics of the referee is and what they need – they can’t do that.”

John McCarthy is a pretty significant figure in MMA, having started his refereeing career at UFC 2. A key figure in the sport, he also played a significantrole in forming the Unified Rules for MMA. So a figure like him would be a no-brainer in terms of a great addition to Dana White and Co.’s roster of analysts, right? Well, not entirely because fans seem to have a vastly different opinion, with a hesitation to see McCarthy joining the broadcast team.

Fans don’t want John McCarthy to join Joe Rogan and commentary colleagues

The MMA fandom on Reddit acknowledges the contribution of John McCarthy to the sport of MMA, and rightly so, there’s a lot of respect for him in the industry. However, they don’t necessarily see him as a good fit for the commentary role, especially when the UFC already has well-established figures, revered by the fans. “John McCarthy might be a nice guy but he definitely is not made for commentary,” one fan stated. On the other hand, some fans who carried the same sentiment had a rather rigid stance on not having McCarthy added to the broadcast team. “If I have to listen to him on UFC broadcasts I am going to never have sound on ever again.”

Moreover, people also claim that they didn’t find his commentary with Bellator and the PFL any interesting. While one fan commented, “This f***ing guy truly believes he was good and insightful on the Bellator and PFL broadcasts,” another added, “Big John sucks,” which can be interpreted as a pretty straightforward ‘no’. Fans have full faith in the current commentary team as they gave Jon Anik his dues for his insightful chops during major fights. “Jon Anik’s knowledge and understanding of the rules is quite impressive tbh. He often knows specific rules on the fly.”

On a lighter note, a Reddit user suggested that the only way to enhance the broadcast team is by having a clone of Joe Rogan. “Get Roe Jogan, Joe Rogans evil twin,” the fan stated humorously. Meanwhile, there’s one fan who believes that John McCarthy’s proposition is pretty interesting, but at the same time, he also seemed to be against having him take up that mantle. “As long as its not Big John himself I’m totally down for that tbh.”

It’s not that the UFC hasn’t made any interesting additions to its commentating roster as just last year, Laura Sanko became the second-ever female commentator, but the first female to don the color commentator role in promotional history. So could Dana White consider bringing in John McCarthy to the team? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.