Netflix’s first foray into MMA is going old school with a highly anticipated Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano dream fight – and so is the California State Athletic commission’s choice for referee.
MMA Junkie on Thursday received a list of assigned referees and judges for MVP MMA 1, which revealed that “Big” John McCarthy will serve as the third person in the cage to oversee the Rousey vs. Carano headliner. McCarthy, whose time as an MMA referee dates back to UFC 2 in 1994, retired from officiating in 2018 to become a Bellator/PFL broadcaster only to announce last October that he was returning to referee.
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Judges for Rousey vs. Carano will be Derek Cleary, Michael Bell and Felicia Oh.
The CSAC assigned veteran Mike Beltran to serve as referee for the Mike Perry vs. Nate Diaz, with judges Chris Leben, Marcel Varela and Raphael Davis assigned to the co-headliner.
Veteran referee Herb Dean will oversee Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins, which will have judges Ron McCarthy, Jonathan Romero and Chris Crail scoring the “third” main event.
Rousey vs. Carano is the first MMA event to be promoted by Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions and live streamed on Netflix. Rousey said she hopes her comeback against Carano will be the most viewed MMA fight in history, topping the estimated 8.8 million viewers who tuned in on FOX for Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez in 2011.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano: CSAC reveals referees, judges
