Big John McCarthy Talks About His Excitement For Fedor Emelianenko vs. Frank Mir

In an interview with MMA Junkie, MMA referee Big John McCarthy said that he’s been waiting for a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Frank Mir for over a decade. The two will clash at Bellator 198 in the main event, which is part of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix opening round. It happens Saturday from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, airing on the Paramount Network. Here are highlights:

On wanting to see the fight: “It’s a fight that I’ve wanted to see for, you’re looking at over 10 years here. When Fedor won the PRIDE heavyweight title from (Antonio) Nogueira back in 2003 and then Frank Mir won the UFC title, breaking Tim Sylvia’s arm in 2004, and back then no matter what anyone wants to say, if you remember it and you were really there, PRIDE was saying that it was the best and had the best fighters. A lot of people thought that, and a lot of people put Frank Mir down as the champion and said Fedor would crush him. It was always a fight that you would want to see, and now you get to see it.”

On if he wishes he was the official: “Anyway that I got to see this fight, I would be happy. If I was able to referee it, that would be awesome. If I’m able to call it as a commentator, that’s awesome. If I’m just able to watch it as a fan.”