It’s all the time a bit foolish when a dozen UFC fights go down and officiating is the most important supply of dialogue a day later. Normally, which means the fights weren’t superb. Alas, that’s positively the case right here, pretty much as good finishes had been outpaced by boring rounds by a good measure. Card high quality apart, speaking in regards to the officiating is critical this time, as a result of it was simply that s—t.
From top-to-bottom, the officers Utah delivered to the desk failed the UFC 307 athletes repeatedly. It was a traditionally unhealthy night of judging, stuffed with random 30-27s that merely can’t be defined. There was no consistency, no favoritism in direction of wrestling or putting — the playing cards had been totally random. By the point the primary card rolled round, the remaining fighters had been certainly sweating, as a result of there was not any approach to be assured within the scorecards.
Even the depressing judging was overshadowed by the efficiency of referee Dave Sejestad. Actually, I’ve by no means seen a ref have much less management of the motion in a cage than within the Cesar Almeida vs. Ihor Potieria struggle. It’s a well known MMA customized that fighters are allowed one foul, however what about six freebies?
It’s laborious to determine whether or not Sejestad had a private agenda in opposition to Potieria or if he simply had a bone to select with retinas as an idea. Both manner, overlooking three consecutive eye pokes in a brief sequence is baffling. When the fourth poke occurred a second later, Sejestad didn’t even hassle stopping the motion. Only a week in the past, Benoit Saint Denis was not allowed to proceed into the third spherical as a result of his imaginative and prescient was compromised. Final night time, Potieria eyes had been brutally attacked with completely no recompense or response!
The incompetence didn’t cease there both. Referee Sejestad didn’t punish a clear-cut Almeida low blow, however he did take critical difficulty with Potieria attempting to make use of the clinch in a blended martial arts struggle. Severely, Potieria was combating a top-tier kickboxer and knockout artist, and his makes an attempt to clinch had been met with IMMEDIATE separations! His probabilities of a win on this match up had been by no means nice, however you can not stack the chances much more closely in opposition to him.
Final night time was additionally vital in that it was Jon Anik’s one centesimal straight pay-per-view (PPV) broadcast, and I don’t suppose I’ve ever heard him outright bothered by an official to this diploma. His outrage mirrored the response on-line effectively, and the information that Sejestad wouldn’t make a second look at UFC 307 was met with gratitude and reduction.
For full UFC 307 outcomes and play-by-play, click on HERE!
