Should mixed martial arts use open scoring? Whether the availability of judges’ real-time rounds of rounds during fights is an idea that has been discussed for a long time and has been used in some places, especially the Invicta FC books in Kansas.
However, for UFC President Dana White, the negatives outweigh the perceived benefits.
As White sees it, there are moments in sports as dramatic as reading scores after a close fight – especially after a championship fight. And if the fans knew the scores as the fight was going on, he would have kidnapped them from the drama of the big call.
“When we fight, I have an idea of who I think won or lost or whatever, but when I sit there with my belt on, I don’t know what Bruce Buffer will say,” White said during an online chat with ESPN + subscribers on Tuesday. , concluded with Invicta color commentator Laura Sanko. “It simply came to our notice then. The judges tell him, the commission does its job, they tell him I’m sitting there and waiting to hear from me, so I’m as amazed as the fans. And I agree with you, completely eliminate the anticipation of who won the fight. “
White also sees another reason why fighters shouldn’t know the score during a match – he thinks it’s too easy for a competitor who knows he has two rounds in three rounds to enter cruise control in the final round, which makes time boring.
“If a guy knows he has two rounds up and you’re a professional fighter, you can stay absolutely away from a guy for a whole round and make the fight completely horrible,” White said. “If you already know you have two rounds in your bag, guarantee if you saw your score up there, all I have to do is stay away from this guy for the next five minutes. That makes a lot of third rounds. “
Whether or not the scores are open is out of White’s hands, as this is a matter of commission. But at the end of the day, the head of the UFC believes that no matter what system exists, there will always be flaws.
“It will never be perfect,” he said. “There will always be fights that will drive you completely crazy and upset you, they will throw your bets, there will always be all these other things that will go with the fight. At the end of the day, watching the fight and waiting for the results are fun. “