UFC
UFC internal review finds Dana White breached policy by removing judge at UFC Fight Night 48 in Macau mid-event
Aug 26, 2014 - 10:00:08 AM UFC internal review finds Dana White breached policy by removing judge at UFC Fight Night 48 in Macau mid-event

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

It seems there may actually be a line to Dana White's authority in the UFC, and he crossed it a bit on Saturday in Macau.

During the UFC Fight Night 48 card, there were two highly questionable scorecards handed down by judge Howard Hughes in the early portion of the card. White revealed after the event that following those scorecards, he had Hughes removed for the rest of the event to watch the card in the stands.

As it turns out, that went against the UFC's own regulatory policy, and the organization released a statement on Tuesday regarding that policy breach. Here's what they had to say via UFC.com:

"After an internal review, the UFC organization announced today that a breach of its independent regulatory protocol occurred on Saturday night during UFC FIGHT NIGHT MACAO.

After the second fight of the night, UFC President Dana White requested that Howard Hughes, one of the event's five assigned judges, be removed from working any further bouts. Pursuant to UFC's protocol, neither White nor any other UFC executive possesses such authority. Nevertheless, protocol was breached and Hughes did not work further bouts on Saturday night.

The UFC organization has always been in support of government regulation and oversight. Additionally, the UFC has established a protocol when required to self-regulate events due to the lack of an official athletic commission, federation or other regulatory body. In those instances where UFC holds events in locations without a regulatory body, the UFC's protocol dictates that the organization's internal regulators will handle all commission functions independently and without interference by company executives or employees.

The UFC remains committed to maintaining the strictest regulatory environment for competition and vows that no similar breach of protocol will happen again.

Both White and the UFC apologize to Mr. Hughes for calling his professional judgment into question. Hughes has judged more than 25 UFC fight cards and the UFC looks forward to him working on its events again in the future."

Penick's Analysis: White over-stepped his bounds by removing Hughes in the middle of an event. He did not over step his bounds by calling Hughes' judgment into question, and indeed, the overall state of judging in this sport would be greatly improved if there were any accountability whatsoever for those judging fights. That final paragraph makes it seem as if they feel Hughes and any other judge has an infallible opinion simply because they've worked several events in the past. In reality, judges need to be held accountable and forced to explain themselves on scores that seem questionable to what seemed to be seen by the rest of the viewing public. If there's no review of the job they're doing and they simply continue to get bookings in these positions, nothing changes.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]