One of the biggest issues in mixed martial arts today is how fights are seen by referees and judges. The idea of instant replay has been brought up and several people believe this is a good idea.
During his appearance last night on “Inside MMA” on AXS TV, UFC President Dana White told the show he is in favor of instant replay being added to the sport.
“Every other sport has instant replay,” White said. “Fighting needs to, especially with how bad officiating has been. They got this thing with combat sports. These athletic commissions have this thing where its like once a guy makes a decision, it can not be overturned. It’s insane, it’s insane!”
Mistakes are made in every sport and there is instant replay available in sports like football, baseball, basketball and hockey. White believes that instant replay makes sense for MMA because the sport is young and there are people who officiate the fights that are not qualified.
“This sport is so young, there is a lot of people who are not qualified to judge and ref this sport that are judging and refereeing it. Instant replay makes sense.”
When a judge or a referee makes a bad call, it can effect a fighter for a long time. UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has a lost on his career, due to a referee disqualifying him for illegal elbows against Matt Hamill.
“Jon Jones has won lost on his record that isn’t right. That was not a lost. He should be undefeated right now. We should be able to go out and promote Jon Jones as the undisputed, undefeated light heavyweight champion, but we can’t since there was a guy refereeing a fight that didn’t belong there.”
Mistakes will always happen and instant replay is a way to eliminate potential mistakes that can set back a fighters career. The UFC can want to have instant replay, but it’s up to the various athletic commissions to allow this. If the Nevada State Athletic Commissions were to approve the use of instant replay, nearly every athletic commission would follow their lead.