Should mixed martial arts employ open punctuation? Making the cards round by round of the judges available in real time during fights is an idea that has been discussed for a long time and has been used in some places, especially Invicta FC cards in Kansas.
For UFC president Dana White, however, the negative points outweigh the perceived benefits.
In White’s opinion, there are few moments in sports as dramatic as reading the results after a close fight – especially after a championship fight. And if fans knew the score while the fight was going on, it would rob them of the drama of the big call.
“When we do the fights, I have an idea of who I think won or lost or something, but when I’m there with the belt, I don’t know what Bruce Buffer is going to say,” White said during an online chat interview with subscribers from ESPN + Tuesday made with Invicta color commentator Laura Sanko. “He doesn’t say anything to me. The judges tell him, the commission does its job, they tell him and I’m there waiting to hear it too, so I’m just as impressed as the fans. And I agree with you, it completely takes away the expectation of who won the fight. “
White also sees another reason why fighters should not know the score during a fight – he believes it is very easy for a competitor who knows he is winning two rounds in a three-round round to enter cruise control in the final round, making time boredom.
“If a guy knows he’s winning two rounds and you’re a professional fighter, you can absolutely stay away from a guy for an entire round and make the fight completely horrible,” said White. “If you already know you have two rounds in your bag, make sure you see your score up there, all I have to do is stay away from this guy for the next five minutes. This results in many bad third rounds. “
Whether open scoring catches or not is out of the hands of White, as this is a matter of commission. But in the end, the UFC boss believes that no matter what system is in place, there will always be failures.
“It will never be perfect,” he said. “There will always be fights that drive you totally crazy and irritate you, lose your bets, there will always be all these other things that go with the fight business. At the end of the day, watching the fight and waiting for the result is fun. “