NSAC Director Bob Bennet: 10-8 round for Woodley is “unacceptable”
This past weekend, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley defended his UFC welterweight title for the second time as he picked up a majority decision win over Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in a rather controversial performance. While Woodley was awarded the majority decision, there were many, including UFC President Dana White, who believe that Thompson won the fight.
Interestingly enough, while two judges scored the fight for Woodley, the third judge, Sal D’Amato scored the fight a draw after giving Woodley a 10-8 round in the 5th round due to his knockdown of Stephen Thompson. While the new Unified Rules of MMA allow judges to be more liberal with 10-8 rounds, those new rules do not go into effect until later in the year.
As a result, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Bob Bennet believes D’Amato’s scoring of the 5th round is “unacceptable”.
He spoke to MMAJunkie:
“The one judge that had it 10-8 – we went over it in the debriefing, and that 10-8 was unacceptable,” Bennett said in the UFC 209 post-fight press conference. “Not that it would have affected the outcome of the fight, but just to share it with you, we certainly strive to do the best we can – we don’t always succeed – and that judge should have scored that round 10-9.”
“You can’t have a three-point swing in 50 seconds,” he added.
As Bennet points out, Woodley had Thompson rocked for a few brief seconds in the 5th round, and nearly finished, however Thompson managed to survive the onslaught, and then continue throughout the remainder of the 5th round. With that being said, the knockdown was enough for all 3 judges to score the 5th round in Woodley’s favor, ultimately giving him 3 rounds in the fight, enough to retain his welterweight championship.
on 3/7/2017.
Topics:
UFC 209
