UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira would prefer to know the scores of fights, but is also worried about what it could mean for excitement levels in the final rounds.
The ongoing debate about MMA judging and what could be changed includes the wide adoption of open scoring. Currently, outside of fights in Kansas, the scores of each round are not revealed until the final horn sounds. With open scoring, fighters and their corners would be made aware of how the judges are scoring the fight after each round. Open scoring can be seen in action on recent Invicta FC events.
When Teixeira is not inside the cage himself, he corners fighters such as Alex Pereira, the former Glory champion who holds a win over UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in kickboxing. Teixeira says it would be nice to know the score as the fights are unfolding.
To know is good, man, of course,” Teixeira told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “For the coaches, for everybody. It’s good because a lot of times I’m in the corner too, and even with Alex Pereira last fight, he look at me and he say, and his foot was hurt, and he look at me and he say, ‘Hey, you think if I keep at this pace it’s good?’ And I didn’t know. I was like, ‘Uh, no man, just go in there and give it all. Give your all, take this guy out of there, don’t take it to decision.’ So, he push a little more.
“Cause what are you gonna say? Are you gonna say to the guy, ‘Yeah, this pace is good, you winning.’ But when you know for sure, ‘Hey man, you’re two rounds above, just don’t get knocked out.’”
Pereira won the fight against Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Night 203 with Teixeira in his corner, earning 30-27 scores from all three judges. While Pereira would have won the fight if Silva earned a 10-9 in the final round, Teixeira did not know that was the case.
While Teixeira recognizes the value in transparency, he is also aware of the potential issue for a fighter coasting in the final round if they know they can afford to drop a round on the scorecards.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be as exciting,” Teixeira said. “Maybe. Who knows, man. Like myself, I got knocked out by Gustafsson because my coach come to me and say if you want to win this fight, you go over there and knock this guy out. So I went after it. I went after it the whole five rounds, but that last round, I was like, I have to stay here. Either kill or die, you know?
“But that’s my mind. Who knows man, you’re gonna see some boring-ass fighters. They already know they’re winning. They’re gonna be like, ‘Oh, man I’m winning, I don’t have to do anything else.’ Just moving around, and maybe the other guy is losing, and he don’t wanna push it. So, I don’t know, could be bad, you know?”
Teixeira is currently preparing to defend his light heavyweight title for the first time after defeating Jan Blachowicz at UFC 267 to become champion at 42. His opponent will be Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 275 in Singapore.
Glover Teixeira would like to see open scoring, but concerned about ‘boring-ass fighters’
