In this paper, we propose a medium access control (MAC) protocol for multi-channel cognitive cooperative radio networks (CCRNs). In this protocol, each secondary user (SU) senses for spectrum opportunities within M licensed bands of the primary users (PUs). To enhance the accuracy of spectrum sensing, we employ cooperative sequential spectrum sensing where SUs mutually exchange their sensing results. Moreover, the information obtained from cooperative spectrum sensing at the physical layer is integrated into the channel negotiation process at the MAC layer to alleviate the hidden terminal problem. Finally, the performance of the proposed MAC protocol in terms of aggregate throughput of the CCRNs is analyzed. Numerical results are provided to assess the impact of channel utilization by PUs, number of contenting CCRNs, number of licensed bands, and false alarm probability of SUs on the aggregate throughput. © 2017 IEEE.