Referees, judges revealed for Rousey vs. Carano card, ‘Big’ John McCarthy returns

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June 6, 2015 - Referee Big John McCarthy before the middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA. Dan Henderson defeated Tim Boetsch in round 1 by TKO. (Photo by Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The referees and judges for the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card have been selected by the California State Athletic Commission ahead of the cards on Saturday from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. with the event airing on Netflix.

The commission shared the selections with MMA Fighting on Wednesday.

In the main event, legendary official “Big” John McCarthy makes his return to refereeing and he’ll serve as the third man in the cage when Rousey and Carano clash in the main event. McCarthy is arguably still the most famous referee in MMA history and he decided to return to his old stomping ground after moving into a commentary role with Bellator MMA and hosting a podcast alongside UFC and Strikeforce veteran Josh Thomson.

Now McCarthy is back in a familiar role as referee as he’ll oversee one of the most talked about fights in 2026 with Rousey coming out of retirement and competing for the first time since 2016. Carano is coming back from an even longer layoff with her last fight happening all the way back in 2009.

The three judges scoring the fight are Derek Cleary, Michael Bell and Felicia Oh.

In the co-main event, Nate Diaz clashes with Mike Perry in a welterweight bout between two fighters who cut their teeth competing in the UFC. More recently, Diaz has crossed over to boxing for high profile fights against Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal while Perry has become the face of bare-knuckle fighting in BKFC where he’s racked up wins over names such as Eddie Alvarez, Luke Rockhold and Michael “Venom” Page.

Veteran referee Mike Beltran oversees the Diaz vs. Perry fight with UFC veteran Chris Leben, Marcel Varela and Raphael Davis scoring the fight as judges.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is also competing on the card against Philipe Lins and Herb Dean serves as the referee for that fight. The three judges are set with Ron McCarthy, Jonathan Romero and Chris Crail.

Here are the full referee and judging assignments for the Rousey vs. Carano card on Saturday


Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano

Referee: John McCarthy

Judges: Derek Cleary, Michael Bell, Felicia Oh

Nate Diaz vs. Mike Perry

Referee: Mike Beltran

Judges: Chris Leben, Marcel Verela, Raphael Davis

Francis Ngannou vs. Philipe Lins

Referee: Herb Dean

Judges: Ron McCarthy, Jonathan Romero, Chris Crail

Salahdine Parnasse vs. Kenneth Cross

Referee: Jason Herzog

Judges: Derek Cleary, Michael Bell, Felicia Oh

Junior dos Santos vs. Robelis Despaigne

Referee: Frank Trigg

Judges: Chris Leben, Daniel Mobley, Chris Crail

Namo Baker vs. Jake Babian

Referee: Jason Herzog

Judges: Ron McCarthy, Michael Bell, Raphael Davis

Adriano Moraes vs. Phumi Nkuta

Referee: Herb Dean

Judges: Derek Cleary, Daniel Mobley, Gokor Chivichyan

Jason Jackson vs. Jefferson Creighton

Referee: John McCarthy

Judges: George Allen, Marcel Varela, Jon Marigliano

David Ozmanian vs. Albert Morales

Referee: Jason Herzog

Judges: Jovany Varela, Gokor Chivichyan, Raphael Davis

Aline Pereira vs. Jade Masson-Wong

Referee: Mike Beltran

Judges: George Allen, Jonathan Romero, John Margliano

Chris Avila vs. Brandon Jenkins

Referee: Frank Trigg

Judges: Jovany Varela, Daniel Mobley, Jon Marigliano

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