'Big' John McCarthy 'Not Sure He'll Ever Return' to Refereeing, Joins Bellator

"Big" John McCarthy may or may not be done refereeing but going forward, fans are going to be hearing a lot of him rather than seeing a lot of him.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker made the surprise announcement that McCarthy had taken a job with the promotion as a color commentator, with his debut set for January 20 at Bellator 192.

While there initially were questions regarding whether this meant he was officially retiring from refereeing, McCarthy appeared on The Luke Thomas Show to clarify that while he wasn't officially retiring, he is stepping away and is "not sure if he'll ever return to it."

McCarthy is one of MMA's most familiar faces. With a career that dates back to 1994's UFC 2, he has served as the third man in the cage for some of the sports' biggest fights and is regarded by many as the best referee in the business. In addition to his Octagon appearances, he has worked with every major MMA promotion imaginable over the last 23 years and has also overseen contests in both boxing and kickboxing. 

While he is best known for his refereeing, Bellator will not be his first time working as an on-air personality. In 2007, he retired from MMA to work with The Fight Network and served as color commentator for the Affliction: Banned pay-per-view event, but returned to his old work a year later.

Steve Marcus/Getty Images

McCarthy is the latest addition to a Bellator commentary stable that has been completely rebuilt over recent months. He functionally replaces longtime Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith (who left the promotion last month after seven years), and he joins veteran play-by-play announcers Mike Goldberg and Mauro Ranallo, as well as active fighter Chael Sonnen.

It is unclear what Bellator has in store for its desk in 2018, but look for things to become clear ahead of its first event of the year.