Referee "Big John" McCarthy slammed the UFC for its sanction on fighter Jason High for shoving a referee right after his fight against Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night early this month.

The veteran referee, who is also referred to as the "Octagon's ninth side", spoke to Submission Radio about the company's sanction on "The Kansas City Bandit", who was immediately released from the UFC after shoving referee Kevin Mulhall out of frustration.

"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," McCarthy said.

For John McCarthy, the UFC may have been way too harsh on how they handled the situation with Jason High. "Big John" clarified that while "The Kansas City Bandit" should have been sanctioned, it should have not been this heavy.

"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," McCarthy said. "That's gonna hurt him, he's gonna feel it, but I think that overall Jason got treated very harshly for what happened."

There have been a number of inconsistencies with the way the promotion company has handled the sanctioning of its fighters. In 2012, Nick Diaz tested positive for marijuana in his post-fight drug test at UFC 143. In a report by ESPN.com, he was suspended for six months by the Athletic Commission and was fined 20% of his purse.

Former UFC Welterweight Matt Riddle, who is greatly, a lesser crowd draw than Diaz, also tested positive for cannabis in Februray 2013, but was immediately released by the company in a report by Sherdog.com.

John McCarthy pointed out the UFC's apparent double standard, adding that the same treatment would not be applied for a bigger draw of a fighter like Jon Jones.

"Now the question is, if Jon Jones would have done the same thing, would he have kicked Jon Jones out of the UFC? He wouldn't have," he said.