NAC Director Comments On UFC 209 Main Event Judging
UFC 209 went down last night (Sat., March 4, 2017) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the main event featured a welterweight title rematch between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson. Woodley ended up retaining his title via majority decision, but it was a controversial outcome at best, especially given the fact that one judge scored the fight a draw.
Commenting on the decision, Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) director Bob Bennett implied that judges should be able to decide on a winner:
“If you’re a top-notch, A-plus judge, you should be able to discern through the scoring criteria who wins the fight, even if it’s razor thin,” Bennett said (Via MMAFighting). “Does a 10-10 round come up? Yes, but in the three years — almost three years — that I’ve been the executive director, we have not had a 10-10 round. And I think it’s incumbent upon the judges to be on top of their game and be able to pick a winner in that round. One effective strike or kick can determine who wins a round.”
The judge who scored the bout a draw was Sal D’Amato and he also scored the final round a 10-8 for Woodley, which Bennett didn’t agree with:
“The one judge that had it 10-8 — we went over it in the debriefing — and that 10-8 was unacceptable,” Bennett said. “Not that it would have affected the outcome of the fight, but just to share it with you. We strive to do the best we can, but we don’t always succeed and that judge should have scored that round 10-9.
“He just missed it and usually he’s spot on. But thank god it didn’t affect the overall outcome of the fight.”
Who did you score the fight for?
