One of the most controversial topics in the UFC is judging. Really, it’s a problem in combat sports as a whole. How many times have we seen fights where someone was robbed because the judges seemed incredibly incompetent?
We’ve seen UFC President Dana White on a number of occasions blast the judging. After UFC 251, White was very vocal about the fact that he believed Max Holloway defeated Alexander Volkanovski.Â
With so many bad decisions in the world of MMA, open scoring has been a topic that is discussed. Open scoring would allow the fighters to see where they stand in between rounds.
It would completely take away the suspense from UFC fights in terms of scoring, however, at least the fighter would know where they stand. There would be no heartbreaking surprises whenever Buffer reads off the scorecards.
However, there are some major concerns about open scoring as well. In a live Q&A on ESPN+, White was asked about his take on open scoring making it’s way to the UFC. White was adamant that he’s not a fan of the concept.
White said, “If a guy knows that he’s up 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. Would make for a lot of bad third rounds.â€
Should the UFC do open scoring?
I don’t always agree with Dana White, but I’m 100% behind him here. Yes, there would be a big advantage for fighters knowing exactly where they stood in between rounds during their UFC fights.
However, from a fans perspective, this would be a nightmare. As White mentioned, if fighters know that they are up 2-0 or 3-1 in main events going into the final round, they would essentially run for five minutes and secure the win.
There would be so many UFC fights that would lack action in the final round. The exciting part of a lot of fights is the unknown. The unknown pushes fighters to put exclamation points on their potential victories in the final round.
However, without that suspense, you’re going to see a lot of fighters playing it safe. There would be a lot of booing (assuming fans are back) and a lot of evasive tactics. Now on the other hand, you might see the losing fighters go crazy knowing they need a finish.
You would see extremes in those situations. One fighter would be trying to run while the other would be desperate for a finish or a 10-8 round. In my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros and for that reason, I don’t want to see open scoring make it’s way to the UFC.