By Jason Moles

Somewhere in the back your mind is a Mt. Rushmore of MMA, one for fighter and one for non-fighters. On the latter, you’d undoubtedly have Dana White in addition to your pick of Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr., Bruce Buffer, or Joe Rogan. However, you only get to pick two of the guys I’ve listed because the second spot on the mountain is reserved for the most recognized referee in all of MMA, “Big” John McCarthy.

No one has had a bigger impact on the sport of mixed martial arts without having actually fought someone or having the last name of Fertita or White. Few have stepped inside the Octagon more times than McCarthy and almost no one has helped grow the sport from birth to the dark ages and into the mainstream arena that it is in today. And you thought he just asked the fighters if they were ready and raised the winner’s hand?

“Big” John McCarthy was kind enough to sit down with CagePotato recently to discuss his new book ‘Let’s Get It On!‘ which can be purchased on Amazon. The book is 50% MMA history lesson, 50% autobiography, and 100% worth every penny spent to own a copy and every minute spent reading. So, without further adieu, let’s get it on!

(Video courtesy of YouTube/StudioMMA/MMANYTT)

Our friends at MMANY.se passed along this recent interview they did with Rorian Gracie in which they spoke with the UFC co-founder about whether or not he had any regrets about selling off his stake in the company before it blew up in popularity.

“No, I don’t regret it at all. I’m happy that I’m no longer involved in this because it doesn’t reflect my vision for what I first came up with. Money-wise, it’s a big money-making venture, but for me it was always about much more than the money. It was the ability to showcase a fight that was for real. That’s what brought me to America. Thats what earned the respect for the Gracie name, is being able to fight against everybody and anybody at any time. Now that everybody has learned the system, of course it’s levelled the playing field. Everybody has learned jiu-jitsu and ultimately that’s what I’m happy with.”

(Jimmerson’s Plan B was to close his eyes and count to 50, but when he opened them the bad man was still there. PicProps: MMA and Me)

In the nearly 20 years after Art Jimmerson spent all of two minutes, 18 seconds as a UFC fighter, he’s kind of become the gold standard for bad decision-making in our sport. Jimmerson’s choice to wear just one boxing glove during his fight against Royce Gracie at UFC 1 is now the stuff of legend in the same way Harold Howard’s mullet, Scott Morris’ ninjitsu and Teila Tuli’s flying tooth have become synonymous with epic failure during the early days of “no holds barred” combat. Heck, Jimmerson’s folly even inspired Tom Lawlor’s most recent wacky (and kind of uncomfortable) entrance to the UFC 121 weigh-ins. If getting spoofed by Lawlor doesn’t mean you’ve etched your name into the history books, I don’t know what does. For Jimmerson however — a former Golden Gloves champ who put together a mostly successful 17-year career as a professional boxer — being remembered primarily as “the idiot who wore one boxing glove to an MMA fight” has to be a little infuriating.

That’s why it makes for such a syrupy, schmaltzy happy ending to his roundabout history in MMA that Jimmerson is now once again gainfully employed with the UFC: Teaching boxing at the newly opened UFC Gym in Rosemead, Calif. Scumbag blogger turned respected reporter Ben Fowlkes has the scoop, sitting down with the boxer to get a full report on Jimmerson’s fight with Gracie (“I was like, I’m going to kill this man. I never heard of no Royce Gracie … ”) and his fateful decision to strap that glove onto his left fist before heading out to the cage. As it turns out, Jimmerson says there was actually some strategery involved.

(Gerard Gordeau stomps Kevin Rosier in the semi-finals of UFC 1. Image courtesy of Real Fighter.)

In honor of the upcoming 15th anniversary of UFC 1, Real Fighter magazine has published an incredible oral history called “Starting a Fight,” where all the fighters and organizers involved share their memories about the watershed event. You can (and should) download the article at BloodyElbow. Our favorite bits are below…

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“Big” John McCarthy: I had put in my application for it. Rorion said, “What are you doing? You can’t fight. You’re with us. When Royce is done, we’ll put you in there.”

Rorion Gracie: We thought of a ring that had a moat and we could put alligators on the outside, [or] chariots running around the ring and dropping the fighters off, people with trumpets and Roman togas announcing them. This is Hollywood.

Art Davie: I don’t think I came up with the moat idea. But the electrified copper fence was mine.

McCarthy: Jimmerson said, “How in the world do you think Royce is going to beat me when I’m flicking out a jab? He can’t get past that.” We went into a back ballroom area and I grabbed him in a double leg and put him on the ground. He looked up at me and said, “Oh, my God. He’s going to break my arms and legs, isn’t he?”

Ken Shamrock: Tuli goes down to his knees and Gerard kicks him in the mouth and his teeth go flying into the front row. Prior to that, everyone [backstage] was hitting pads and trying to hide their fear. It went dead silent.