Dana White on Varner-Guillard scoring: 'It kills my business'

Fe1 · 12-30-2012, 01:36 AM

Dana White on Varner-Guillard scoring: 'It kills my business' - MMA Fighting

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LAS VEGAS -- If there's a UFC event in Nevada, chances are the night is going to end with Dana White unhappy with either the judging or officiating.

Saturday night, judge Adalaide Byrd provided White with his ammunition for the evening with her scoring of Jamie Varner vs. Melvin Guillard fight. While judges Mark Smith and Cecil Peoples scored the bout 30-27 in favor of Varner, Byrd saw the fight 30-27 the other way.

"The fight capital of the world," White practically spit. "30-27 Guillard. It's unacceptable. It's a joke. It's literally a joke. Seriously, the athletic commission must want to dig a f---in' hole and bury themselves when someone says 30-27 Guillard. They should want to dig a hole and bury themselves."

From where White sits, his biggest concern is the fact that casual fans don't understand that fight promoters -- whether it be himself or boxing promoters like Bob Arum -- aren't responsible for the assignment of judges and officials in commission states. So when a decision like the odd Varner-Guillard score comes down, the promoter ends up taking the heat.

White used Tim Bradley's bizarre split-decision win over Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas as evidence.

"It kills my business," White said. "Manny Pacquiao lost a fucking decision in that fight, and what happens is, the first thing you think is, and I hate Bob Arum, I can't stand that f---ing guy. He didn't fix that fight. He had nothing to do with it. I'd love to sit here and b---- and say ‘Bob Arum rigged it and he did this'. He didn't.

"It's decisions like this and the 30-27 Guillard tonight that just, it does kill you. People think that it's us. A lot of people aren't educated on the fact that the Nevada state athletic commission actually picks these people and allows them to keep judging fights."

White still wasn't done venting his spleen about the Varner-Guillard score.

"It's unbelievable," he said. "30-27 for Guillard? Crazy, right? You could never watch a fight in your f---in' life and not score that 30-27. That was scary, I mean, Cain Velasquez had to sweat it at the end when they called that decision. You never know with those guys. It happens. These guys are crazy."