UFC looking to increase quality of MMA officiating

UFC executive Marc Ratner has admitted that they are looking to increase the quality of MMA officiating nationwide.

Ratner has admitted that the quality of MMA officiation is one of his next big projects, according to MMAjunkie.com Radio Network.

“That’s one of my other charges, is trying to make the officials better – get better referees, teaching more and doing more seminars,” Ratner said. “We’re going to do more of that, hopefully, next year.”

“The first thing we want to do is get all the states to regulate [MMA],” Ratner said. “Once all the states regulate it, we can try to put some national seminars together. The Association of Boxing Commissions, which should now be called the Association of Combat Commissions, they’re going to start doing some of that stuff.”

“We need to keep on trying to make it better, trying to get a commonality of philosophy,” Ratner said. “But some of the things I’ve read about – ‘Oh, these decisions were horrible’ – these fights are close fights. The Clay Guida fight with Diego (Sanchez at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale), that’s a tough fight to score. Some of those rounds were real close.

“The first round, some people scored that round 10-8. That was as dominant of a round as you’re going to see. That’s one of the problems whether it’s boxing or MMA. not all 10-9 rounds are equal, but they’re scored equal. Certainly a wide round like the first round in that fight compared to the third round which was razor-thin depending on who you give it to, it gives the appearance that the judging isn’t that consistent. But when you have a 10-9 system, that’s what happens.”

Tags: Clay Guida, UFC