Ontario Prepares for MMA with McCarthy’s Officials Courses Sept. 24-26

Now that Ontario has agreed to sanction mixed martial arts beginning in 2011, it's time for the people of the Canadian province to further their education in the sport.

That's where "Big" John McCarthy comes in. The longtime referee will be bringing his MMA informational and judging COMMAND courses to Ontario Sept. 24-26.

Ontario Athletic Commissioner Ken Hayashi will be among the attendees.

The one-day informational course will be held on Sept. 24, and is designed to give its students a better understanding of the process of judging and refereeing, as well as how to get involved as an MMA official.

"How many people do you know sit on their couch, watch fights and either disagree with the judges as far as what happened in the fight, or disagree with what the referee did, and make all kinds of comments but don't truthfully know the rules?" McCarthy said. "(This course) will give them enough to where they will start to understand why a referee is going to be doing something in a certain situation. When they watch a fight again, they're going to understand things a lot more as far as why the officials are doing what they're doing."

The judging portion of the course runs from Sept. 25 to Sept. 26, and concludes with testing so that participants can earn their judging certification if they are successful. According to the COMMAND course Web site, the pass rate for certification is approximately 40 percent.

The requirements must be strict so that when MMA becomes regulated in Ontario, fighters will receive fair treatment from judges.

"The big thing is that the judges understand what the fighters are doing…So that when the fighters come to Ontario they will at least have somebody there that is competent in what they're looking at and knowing what the fighters are doing," McCarthy said.

The courses will be taught by McCarthy as well as Jerin Valel, an MMA referee and judge who also has three professional fights.

Valel, a Winnipeg, Manitoba native and the head official of the Manitoba Boxing Commission, believes that bringing the instructional courses to Ontario will be a positive step toward being ready for the first sanctioned event in the area.

"For Ontario this is key," he said. "We know it's all about the right people and the right rules for this sport. There's often circumstances where perhaps people without the right knowledge are given opportunities for judging and refereeing, and we've seen some really negative outcomes because of that. It just helps Ontario get off on the right foot."

As of now, there is no target date for the first sanctioned MMA bout in Ontario.

"Regulations are being worked on. Once everything is in place, then we'll move forward with it," said Commissioner Hayashi.

The UFC has already put on successful shows in Vancouver and Montreal; having Ontario in the mix opens up the possibility for a lucrative event in Toronto. The province originally was opposed to legalizing MMA before reversing field in August.

McCarthy believes that opposition to the sport often comes as a result of lack of information.

"Fights are scary to the average person, and they look at it and they don't understand it,” he said. “They have a perception, and the perception is the fighters are going in there trying to kill each other.

"I've been doing this now for 17 years, and it's always been a fight somewhere trying to get people to understand what the sport really is. It's just going to take time in all areas. I think that's what it took in Ontario...They didn't want it to be part of their sporting culture. Now it's changing and it's time to do the right thing and bring good training into the Ontario area so we can get people....up to speed so that they're going to be doing the right things for fighters."

For more information about the upcoming COMMAND courses, visit mmareferee.com.