If anyone's qualified to weigh in on the UFC's decision to cut Jason High after shoving referee Kevin Mulhall at UFC Fight Night 42, it's go-to ref and MMA pioneer "Big" John McCarthy.
McCarthy, who began his career at UFC 2 in 1994, talked frankly with Submission Radio about the company's decision to part ways with High after he pushed Mulhall following a questionable stoppage loss to Raphael dos Anjos.
Absolutely there has to be varying degrees of punishment, but it has to be a punishment that is, you know, it evenly matches the crime, and the crime was pretty minimal. Jason put his hands on Kevin and kinda pushed him away. It was wrong. To be taken out of the UFC—I understand what Dana White is doing, [but] now the question is, if Jon Jones would have done the same thing, would he [White] have kicked Jon Jones out of the UFC? He wouldn't have.
On top of trivializing High's actions and slamming the UFC for its choice to let the former NCAA Division 1 wrestler go, McCarthy also disagreed with the New Mexico State Athletic Commission's decision to suspend him for a year.
Sometimes we as human beings, we do things off of emotion that we normally wouldn't do. Do I think he should have been punished? Yes. He should have had his hand slapped, he should have gotten, you know a five month suspension, he should have been fined, we'll say twenty-five hundred, five thousand dollars. That's gonna hurt him, he's gonna feel it, but I think that overall Jason got treated very harshly for what happened.
High certainly paid a steeper price than just getting a pink slip from the UFC. In the end, the hulking lightweight received a one-year suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and a $1,900 fine.
The night after his loss at UFC Fight Night 42, High offered an apology for the spur-of-the-moment act of aggression via Twitter.
— Marcelino Evil (@KCBanditMMA) June 8, 2014
Despite McCarthy's criticism, and the fact that High seems remorseful, "The Kansas City Bandit" will likely suffer the same fate with the UFC as Paul Daley, who got exiled from the company after sucker-punching Josh Koscheck at UFC 113.
In two stints with the UFC, High compiled a 2-3 mark. High holds five wins under the Zuffa umbrella.
