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Louise Thomas
Editor
Dana White was left furious with the judging and one referee at UFC 307, despite a spectacular main event between Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree.
‘Poatan’ emerged victorious in a busy night for the UFC, with Rountree’s face dismantled by the sharp-shooting Brazilian.
But White was left angry with some controversial scorecards and while he did not name the fight specifically, there was plenty of debate surrounding Julianna Pena getting a split-decision win over Raquel Pennington in the co-main event, or the split-decision win earned by Mario Bautista over Jose Aldo.
“I thought the judging tonight was atrocious,” White said in his post-fight press conference. “I felt like I was at a boxing match in Ireland tonight.
“I thought the judging was atrocious tonight. I’ll just leave it that. It was atrocious.”
Referee Mike Beltran then came under fire, particularly for the way he handled Bautista constantly looking for takedowns, failing and then holding Aldo against the cage.
“It’s common sense,” White said when explaining his frustration. “When the guy keeps doing it, and is doing everything he can to not fight, and not win the fight, as a ref, you should break it up immediately.
“If he just did it three rounds in a row, and he keeps doing it, and they get there, and he doesn’t get the takedown, give him a couple of seconds, see if he gets the takedown and break it up.”
White may look to put pressure on officials moving forward to limit stalling tactics from fighters and encourage more fan-friendly striking exchanges.
