UFC
Dana White admits he "overstepped" his bounds at UFC Fight Night 48, says he was wrong to remove judge mid-event
Aug 26, 2014 - 9:25:27 PM Dana White admits he "overstepped" his bounds at UFC Fight Night 48, says he was wrong to remove judge mid-event

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

After the UFC released a statement on Tuesday saying that Dana White breached their own protocol on Saturday for events they regulate themselves, White himself addressed the issue during a media scrum in Mexico City following a press conference for UFC 180.

White had judge Howard Hughes removed from his duties during the UFC Fight Night 48 event in Macau because he disagreed with some controversial scorecards handed out. However, not only did he overstep his bounds in the first place, but he found out after the fact that one of the offending scorecards he attributed to Hughes wasn't actually handed in by Hughes.

"It's no secret how fired up I get when there's bad judging, but I have to apologize to judge Hughes," White said (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com. "I did get some misinformation. He didn't score the second fight 30-27 for the fighter from China."

"And yeah, I got a little crazy, and I overstepped my bounds. It's not the first time, and hopefully that's the last time I'll ever do that. I was wrong."

Penick's Analysis: It's not often White admits he's done something wrong. That said, it's clear he stepped over a line that promoters just shouldn't cross when they're also assigning officials. There can be a review after the fact to not use a certain judge again if their performance isn't up to certain standards, but that's a different scenario than what played out here.

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