Dana White Talks Problems With UFC 149
Posted on 23 Jul 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

UFC President Dana White discussed manage of the problems he had with UFC 149, including officiating issues and more.

Here are highlights:

On officiating problems damaging the sport: "I will always be vocal and say exactly what I think about it. I would say that I'm probably the most vocal promoter on the planet when it comes to officiating. I'm not just talking about mixed martial arts. I'm talking about boxing, too. If this doesn't get fixed, it just absolutely crushes the sport. It's so bad. These athletic commissions are put in place to provide judges and referees to be fair, to know what they're doing, to be professional."

On Josh Rosenthal's bad call in the fight between Matthew Riddle and Chris Clements: "It's a kick to the body, and Rosenthal jumps in the middle because he thought it was a kick to the groin. Come on. You're standing right there. Open your eyes. Pay attention – this is what you're getting paid to do. You choose to do this. If you don't want to do it 100 percent, don't do it. Go do something else. The fight could've been ended right there. That's a situation where he doesn't see it, stops the action, gets half-assed in there instead of making a clear, decisive decision. And what if Riddle lost the fight after that at a point where he had him hurt to the body with a beautiful kick? And he jumps in the middle."

On his suggestions for fixing the problem: "I think any job you have, and you don't do your job, you get reprimanded. Or you get suspended for three fights and they have some class you have to sit in and watch the fights and see what you did wrong. Refs and judges will make mistakes. But things like that – you're too far away, so you screw the kid out of the KO (record), you miss a kick to the body you think is a kick to the groin, the other guy's standing around letting guys clinch the entire third round. At what point do you go, 'OK, there's no fight going on here'?"