Where did John McCarthy officiate his first UFC match?
John McCarthy (referee) John Michael McCarthy (born October 12, 1962) is an American mixed martial arts referee, perhaps best known for his officiating of numerous bouts promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) dating back to UFC 2. Known to fans as "Big" John McCarthy, he took a brief sabbatical from officiating toward the end of 2007 to pursue a career in television commentary for The Fight Network and also provided commentary for Affliction, before returning to his role as a referee in 2008. McCarthy is also a former Los Angeles Police Officer, and a Tactical Self-Defense Instructor at the Los Angeles Police Academy, as well as the founder of C.O.M.M.A.N.D: a training and certification school for MMA referees and judges. He has also officiated bouts in Bellator, and is a qualified boxing referee. In February 2015, Big John & Bellator commentator Sean Wheelock launched their new weekly podcast, Let's Get It On with Big John McCarthy & Sean Wheelock.
Jon J. Franklin Jon J Franklin (aka "Jon Franklin") is a sports marketing and sports television business executive who is currently Chief Executive Officer of Glory Sports International, the parent company of Glory Kickboxing seen on ESPN TV and CBS in the USA along with UFC Fightpass (in a major deal announced in 2016) and on major networks including Eurosport, Ziggo Sports Holland, Le TV China and others in more than 170 countries. Since Franklin joined Glory as CEO in 2014, Glory Kickboxing has undergone a complete strategic remake and seen solid advances in ratings, attendance and following culminating in John Malone's Liberty Global and Yao Ming's Yao Capital joining Glory as investors and partners. In the final months of 2016, Glory produced events in Trenton, New Jersey, Denver, Colorado, Nice, France and on December 10, a sold out major global PPV event in conjunction with the UFC, Collision, Rico v Badr, the fight no one thought could be made, in Oberhausen, Germany. Further Glory events for 2017 have included Glory LA Live, January 20 and a sold out show at Sears Center Chicago, February 24th. In Europe Brussels Belgium hosted Glory on March 25th, Copenhagen in April, Holland in May, Paris in June and a sold out show from New York, Madison Square Garden Theatre on July 14, 2017. Franklin has stated his intent to bring Glory to Toronto Canada, to San Paulo, Brazil and also to China in 2017 and 2018.