Former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley made quick work of Mike Cook at Maximum Fighting Championship 21: Hard Knocks Friday in Alberta, Canada. Lashley dismantled the Californian fighter in just 24 seconds.

Cook came to the ring wearing a pro wrestling lucha libre mask while taunting Lashley with popular WWE poses. Lashley was annoyed, denying Cook of a glove touch seconds before the start of the fight. As soon as the bell rang, Lashley charged at Cook and applied a guillotine choke. Lashley held on to the guillotine choke and took Cook to the ground, forcing Cook to go limp. Referee "Big" John McCarthy called the fight off just 24 seconds into Round 1.

His opponent, Mike Cook, didn't have any major wins on his record. Cook also lost to former WWE Tough Enough contender Daniel Puder by a rear naked choke.

In the post fight interview, Lashley stated, "Now he can put back on the mask and have fun with himself."

The former WWE US Champion and ECW Champion improved his MMA record to 3-0, but it's apparent that his pro wrestling background will stick with him for quite some time.

Lashley doesn't have much time to rest, as his next challenge is just around the corner in MMA veteran Bob Sapp on June 27 at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi.

November is never a great month for sports. The World Series is already over, the NBA and NHL's interminable regular seasons are just starting, and the NFL ruins the Thanksgiving by subjecting football fans to the Detroit Lions.

But on Saturday night, the heavyweight title will be on the line in the Ultimate Fighting Championship -- perhaps the biggest fight ever in the burgeoning sport of mixed martial arts.

Some sports fans have never heard of MMA, while others are under the impression that its fights are barbaric spectacles. The reality is that the UFC has intricate rules and boasts world class athletes. The sport attracts Olympic wrestlers and black belts, not street fighters and bar brawlers.

But Saturday night's fight will have be a spectacle, and deservedly so. The sport's greatest living legend, the 45-year-old Randy Couture, takes on the enormous Brock Lesnar, a former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion who made a career in professional wrestling before returning to legitimate sport and giving MMA a try.

John McCarthy, who has worked as a referee in the sport since the second UFC event in 1994, calls the fight "The classic matchup -- probably the most physically impressive man in mixed martial arts (Lesnar) going against the most mentally impressive man (Couture)."

Dana White, the irascible president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, likes to say that his sport's biggest fights will some day be bigger than the Super Bowl in this country and the World Cup in the rest of the world. Like all great fight promoters, White is prone to hyperbole, but as the sport of mixed martial arts marches toward mainstream acceptance, the Couture-Lesnar fight could be its turning point. The fight will be purchased on pay-per-view by close to 1 million fans, and it is receiving a level of coverage from mainstream news sources that is unprecedented for the sport.

Although Couture is an intelligent, articulate man who is beloved by fans and doing something extraordinary by continuing to compete into his 40s, a victory by Lesnar would probably do more for the sport's long-term prospects. Fans are naturally drawn to the 31-year-old Lesnar, a strikingly impressive athlete with a gift for self-promotion.

Look for Couture to win because of his superior experience and knowledge -- Couture's background is in amateur wrestling, but he has also become a student of Eastern martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. But if Lesnar beats Couture in dominant fashion, it could be a star-making performance similar to Mike Tyson's 1988 knockouts of Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks.

Two decades after the pinnacle of Tyson's career, big fights have virtually disappeared from water-cooler conversations in America. But if there's a fight that can change that, it's Couture vs. Lesnar.

Taken from: nbcnewyork.com

"Let's get it on!" Remember the sentence? Yes, now we will hear that sentence again from the cage.

The California State Athletic Commission has assigned "Big" John McCarthy a referee's position at Strikeforce "Destruction" on November 21 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

The assignment will mark the 15-year veteran's return to officiating after McCarthy announced his retirement in December 2007 to join The Fight Network, a Canadian-based cable channel, as an on-air analyst and strategic advisor.

McCarthy oversaw his 535th bout between dynamic lightweights Clay Guida and Roger Huerta at "The Ultimate Fighter 6" Finale last December in Las Vegas, Nevada. He officiated his first bout at UFC 2 "No Way Out" in March 1994 in Denver, Colorado, and was among the original authors of the MMA's first set of guidelines in 1998.

In his analyst's role, the 45-year-old McCarthy provided color commentary for Canada's TKO and Hardcore Championship Fighting promotions, and most recently called the action alongside FOX Sports Network regulars Frank Trigg and Jay Glazer at Affliction "Banned" last July in Anaheim, California.

McCarthy resigned from The Fight Network on October 7, amidst rumors the channel was awash with financial difficulties.

"I had a good time doing (commentary) and it was fun," said McCarthy. "The Fight Network overextended itself and wasn't ready to do certain things that they said that they were going to be able to do. It just didn't work out there."

Rather than take another offer that would keep him outside the cage, McCarthy said he chose to return to the role he originated inside it.

"I missed doing it," said McCarthy. "Sometimes when you walk away from something and you think it's time, once you're away you realize what you're missing –- it's kind of like why guys come back to fighting. It's what I like doing. It's what I was meant to do."

Retired from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) where he served for 22 years, McCarthy instructed over 10,000 recruits in arrest and control procedures and survival tactics.

McCarthy has not veered far from his teaching roots. He conducted his second Certified Officials for MMA National Development (COMMAND) referee and judges' instructional course in October and has a third seminar planned for late November at his mixed martial arts academy in Valencia, California. The program is recognized by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC).

Though most recognizable from his tenure with the UFC, Big John said he has no expectations of where or when he will be placed for assignment.

"I have no control over that," he said. "That's up to athletic commissions and what you get assigned to. I may do one show a year. I may do 50. I don't know, but if I get assigned to something, then I'll be going if I can."

McCarthy was recently re-licensed as a referee with the athletic commissions in California, Ohio, and the River Cree in Alberta, Canada. He said he plans apply for licensure in additional states as well.