Dana White On Mayweather/Ortiz And UFC On Fox Officiating

Posted by J. Yayo Hernandez on Sep 20, 2011 in Boxing, Muay Thai, UFC

Recently, UFC president Dana White commented on how officiating is crucial for UFC on FOX 1, the Mayweather-Ortiz fight, and more. Check out the highlights of what he had to say:

On referee Joe Cortez’s handling of the Mayweather-Ortiz fight:

“Cortez blew a multi-million-dollar fight. The officiating has been horrendous in mixed martial arts. Let me start it off by saying this: I laid some money on Ortiz. And I’ll tell you, Ortiz started headbutting him from the first round, right? (He was) rubbing his head in [Mayweather's] face from the first round on then the most intentional headbutt you’ll ever see, and the dirtiest thing you can do in boxing is headbutt another guy. He headbutts him then the referee doesn’t send the guys to a neutral corner, (and) actually lets – after [Ortiz] headbutts Mayweather in the face – let’s [Ortiz] approach him and hug him … like that’s the last thing Mayweather wants is [Ortiz] in his face after he just headbutted him. Then, again, doesn’t send the guy to a neutral corner, (and) everything’s in chaos and confusion. [Cortez] doesn’t even know (that with) an intentional foul, you take two points, not one. What you’re supposed to do is send a guy to the neutral corner. You have the doctor come in and check Mayweather to see if he’s OK to continue, and let’s assume he is – Mayweather says, ‘Yes, I can continue,’ (and) the doctor says yes. So the ref goes to the center of the ring and says, ‘I’m taking two points,’ then he walks to Ortiz and says, ‘That’s two points. If you do it again, you’re going to be disqualified.’ Then go back to the center of the ring and say, ‘Let’s fight.’ He didn’t do any of that. So then after the [foul], he says, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go.’ I guess he said it three times. And Ortiz comes to hug him again after he’s already said sorry 50 times, and Floyd hit him when the fight was on.”

On Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s actions in the fight:

“It’s easy to hate Floyd Mayweather. Everybody wants to hate him. First of all, Ortiz was dirty in what he did. Nothing dirtier than a headbutt, and everybody in boxing knows that. That fight should have been able to go on. A ref is in there to make sure that stuff like that doesn’t happen. Mayweather was strangling him at the weigh-ins, and nobody stepped in and did anything. So this thing started way before officiating was the reason this whole thing went the way that it did.”

On the importance of officiating for the Velasquez vs. Dos Santos main event:

“This would be a great opportunity for me to step up on the soapbox and go, ‘Boxing shot itself in the foot again, and look what these guys did!’ It had nothing to do with boxing, had nothing to do with the sport of boxing. It had to do with the officiating that night. And let me tell you what: Think about my position now. I’m about to go on FOX on Nov. 12 for our first big MMA event on free TV. I don’t want some referee that doesn’t know what he’s doing blowing my big night on FOX.”

On how officiating is key for UFC on Fox 1: