Dana White Thinks Steve Mazzagatti’s TUF 19 Mistake Prompted Positive Change For NSAC

Last night’s (Weds., May 21, 2014) episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 19 featured a massive amount of never-before-seen controversy when middleweights Ian Stephens of Team Edgar and Roger Zapata of Team Penn took to the Octagon.

The fight played out as expected, with experienced wrestler Stephens immediately shooting for and securing a takedown early on in the bout. But Zapata fought hard to get back to his feet, nailing Stephens with a bevy of elbows that were bordering on being of the illegal 12-6 variety, earning a warning from referee Steve Mazzagatti.

The second round was similar to the first, but this time Zapata scored even more damage with his elbows and punches as Stephens continued to attempt to grind out a decision win. While he held Zapata down for the majority of the fight, he did literally no damage with his many advantageous positions.

Ringside judges awarded Zapata the second round, leading to a sudden death third frame.

And that’s where the drama began to unfold. Zapata had Stephens apparently tired and cut open from a barrage of elbows. However, Mazzagatti stepped in to deduct one point from Zapata, earning a simultaneous chorus of shock and anger from Team Penn. Stephens was allowed a few moments to continue, and they were all he needed. After nearly being worn out and stopped, he rebounded after the deduction to grind out a smothering conclusion to the bout.

But the jaw-dropping spectacle was far from over.

Mazzagatti announced Zapata as the winner by decision; an impossible feat considering that he had lost a point in the third round and had by no means won it by a score of 10-8. The story goes that with the point deduction, the fight was scored a draw and the judges were subsequently asked to pick whom they thought had won.

All three chose Zapata, a strange set of results indeed.

UFC president Dana White was understandably furious about the scenario, an instance that he believes created change within the Nevada State Athletic Commission. White spoke up on FOX Sports 1 to give his take (via MMA Mania):

“After that moment on The Ultimate Fighter I think it created change. Finally, everything that I’ve been crying about and yelling about and screaming about finally came to a head in this episode of The Ultimate Fighter. I think that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has done a great job fixing the problem and moving forward in fixing the future of reffing and judging in mixed martial arts. Here in Nevada, anyway.

I think this was the explosion of what’s going on and has been going on here in Nevada for a few years now. I think this was the moment where the right people recognized what was going on and that some changes needed to be made.

The positive side to this is that after this went down [NSAC Chairman Francisco Aguilar], head of the athletic commission, has really stepped in and stepped up making sure not only that the right guys are in there, guys that have a history of making the right decisions. It’s never going to be perfect, but what he’s doing is after the fights now he’s sitting everybody down, they’re reviewing films, they’re seeing what things were done right, what things were done wrong and what can be done better. This situation, as crazy and as bad as it was, has actually been a positive thing for the state of Nevada.”

White told the cast of TUF 19 that he thought Zapata had actually won the fight because he did much more damage than Stephens, who was trying to wrestle his way to an ugly win. The loss noticeably took the wind out of Coach Frankie Edgar’s sails, but for his part, Stephens was very mature in choosing to accept the loss and not focus on the strange situation.

Regardless of the questionable refereeing decision and the subsequent ruling on the scorecards, it’s good to hear that the wheels of change concerning scoring in MMA have been set in motion. Judging in Nevada had been continuously under fire while former NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer was in office; he has since stepped down from the position.

Now we just have to wait and see if it actually leads to more consistency. Let’s hope it does.