The majority draw decision for UFC 127’s BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch fight has been widely debated, and UFC President Dana White has joined in the discussion.
But White’s beef with the decision is counter to that of most fans and critics. While the press and message board consensus is that Jon Fitch won the fight and deserved a decision in his favor, UFC President Dana White is taking a stance that not even BJ Penn is taking–that Penn deserved the nod from the judges.
“I didn’t think it was a draw,” said White in an interview with ESPN. “I looked at the scorecards and the two judges who had it a draw scored the first two rounds for Penn and the third round a 10-8 [for Fitch].
“Personally, I scored the first two rounds for Penn and had him winning the fight. There’s no doubt B.J. got pounded in the third round, but that wasn’t a 10-8 round.”
White’s take on the third round is intriguing–while some were willing to give Penn rounds one and two and thus accept the draw decision, the consensus was clearly that Fitch’s dominant third-round performance warranted a 10-9. Judges are often hesitant to give anything other than a 10-9, so the fact that two judges saw the final frame as a 10-8 is being used as fuel for the argument that Fitch deserved the wider margin for his final round performance.