White open to overtime for UFC bouts
Draws are hard to come by in a MMA fight—especially bouts in the UFC.
Judging is gauged on a 10-point must system over an odd number of rounds, so in most cases there should be a winner when the bout goes to a decision.
However, recently there has been a pair of main events in the UFC to land a draw. Most notably was the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard lightweight title fight at UFC 125.
A draw leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, including Dana White’s.
MMAMania.com recently made note that the UFC President made the following statement during the UFC’s web series “The Aftermath”, a show that airs after each episode of The Ultimate Fighter.
“I hate draws. I think it’s such a waste of everybody’s time and energy. (An overtime round is) something that I would definitely explore.”
The draw at UFC 125 was a problem for a couple reasons. For one, there was no winner. Secondly, Anthony Pettis was scheduled to face the winner in a unification bout.
Now, these two will have another match while Pettis is forced to put his potential title shot up for grabs in a bout with Clay Guida.
A draw was also the result of UFC 127 with Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn. The winner would have become the No. 1 contender to Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title. Now, there is no top contender and Fitch will be unable to compete in the schedule rematch due to injury.
An overtime makes sense, but it would be tough for fighters to prepare for an extra five minutes of fighting if they have conditioned themselves to just 25 or 15 minutes.
Also, the time it takes to figure out the final scoring lasts a few minutes and in that time, fighters will have a huge dump in energy and their adrenaline levels will certainly fall back.
I am sure the UFC will explore the idea and try to come up with the best option, but clearly this isn’t something that Dana White can just make happen with a simple statement. It will take time to develop the rules behind it.
I for one would love to see it because everyone wants to have a clear winner and a clear loser. Especially in title fights. A draw just leaves an empty feeling.
Posted in: Fighters, News, UFC
Tags: Anthony Pettis, B.J. Penn, Clay Guida, Dana White, Frankie Edgar, Georges St. Pierre, Gray Maynard, Jon Fitch, MMA, UFC