Dana White rips ‘atrocious’ judging at UFC 307

“I thought the judging tonight was atrocious. I felt like I was in a boxing match in Ireland tonight.”

Dana White was visibly upset during his post-fight press conference when asked about some of the judges’ scorecards. There were also several issues with the referees and breaking up clinch exchanges along the fence to press action during the fight. White went on, “I always think referees should be more active on that, 100%…When they see it continually happening and the guy is not trying to win the fight, then you keep breaking them up.”

Mario Bautista def. Jose Aldo

White was alluding to the Jose Aldo vs. Mario Bautista fight where Jose Aldo was clearly looking to press the striking exchanges in the third round while his opponent shot for unsuccessful takedowns along the fence, clinching Aldo into stalemate positions. As a result, Aldo dropped a split decision loss without surrendering any takedowns.

Still, Mario Bautista did enough to win on the judges’ scorecards, but the face remained that he spent much of the third round clinching with Aldo and not initiating his striking. While it was the smart move, he certainly didn’t draw any praise from the fans or Dana White.

Julianna Pena def. Raquel Pennington

The Co-Main Event also saw a hard-fought battle between two bitter rivals and the fight was back-and-forth from start to finish. Julianna Pena started very strong with her submission grappling and was landing impressive shots through the first two rounds. However, Pennington notched the only knockdown of the fight and clearly had the momentum swinging in her direction during the later rounds.

The judges ruled the split decision with two of three scorecards reading 48-47 in favor of Julianna Pena. During Bruce Buffer’s announcement, Pena is seen mouthing “Did I win?” to her corner to reassure her she had done enough during the fight. Raquel Pennington was also surprised her late-fight efforts weren’t enough to win the judges over.

Tecia Pennington def. Carla Esparza

Tecia Pennington and Carla Esparza stood toe-to-toe during their three-round bout with momentum shifting a number of times throughout the fight. However, the most emphatic exchanges came at the end of the fight when Esparza ending on top and raining strikes down on Pennington. Esparza also controlled Pennington on the ground for much of the fight, but Pennington got the best of the striking exchanges.

During Bruce Buffer’s reading of the final decision, Pennington looked visibly upset as if she had lost the fight. She was awarded the win and wore a look of disbelief on her face upon the reading. UFC 307 also marked the end of Carla Esparza’s storied MMA career.

All in all, it was a great night of fights capped-off by Alex Pereira’s otherworldly performance in the fourth round of his championship fight against Khalil Rountree Jr. Still, Dana White was upset with Utah’s Athletic Commission and their handling of the UFC 307 fights. It’ll be interesting to see if any changes get made to the protocol moving forward.