Should mixed martial arts use an open point? The question of whether the judges’ round-by-round cards should be available in real time during fights is an idea that has been discussed for a long time, and is used in some places, especially the Invicta FC cards in Kansas.
For UFC president Dana White, however, the negatives outweigh the benefits they observe.
As White sees it, there are few moments in sports as dramatic as reading the scores after a close battle – especially after a championship battle. And if the fans knew what the scores were while the fight was going on, it would rob the drama of the big call.
“If we’re fighting the battle, I have an idea who I think won or lost, or whatever, but if I stand there with the belt on, I do not know what Bruce Buffer is going to say,” White said during ‘ An online chat with ESPN + subscribers on Tuesday with Invicta color commentator Laura Sanko. “He’s not saying anything to me. The judges tell him, the commission is doing their thing, they tell him and I stand there waiting to hear too, so I’m just as stunned as the fans. And I agree with you, it completely takes away the anticipation of who won the battle. ”
White also sees another reason why fighters should not know the score during a match – he thinks it’s too easy for a contestant who knows he’s two rounds in a hat trick to be in cruise control in the final round going, which makes for a boring time.
“If a man knows he has two rounds and that you’re a professional fighter, you can absolutely stay a whole round away from a man and make the fight completely awful,” White said. ‘If you already know you have two rounds in the bag, you need to guarantee that you saw your score up there, all I have to do is stay away from this guy for the next five minutes. That makes for very bad third rounds. ”
The question of whether or not open points will be caught is out of White’s hands, as this is a commission matter. But at the end of the day, the UFC boss believes that no matter what system there is, there will always be mistakes.
“It will never be perfect,” he said. ‘There will always be fights that make you absolutely insane and make you angry, and you will always be agitated, there will always be all the other things that go along with the fight venture. At the end of the day, it’s fun to watch the fight and wait for the results. ”