UFC Fight Night made it to the shores of Sydney and although there was plenty of unhappy people about the card when it was initially announced, it is fair to say that the UFC delivered great match-ups and the fighters put on an entertaining show.
Sydney continues to set UFC records. Despite the show not selling out in record time as it has in the past, instead, it was the highest selling gate for a Fight Night with 14,537 people in attendance.
The flyweight division was introduced at the event, with two semi-finals in a tournament setup designed to find out which two fighters would emerge to face-off for the first title fight at 125 lbs.
The first fight saw Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall vs. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson set a fanatic pace for the entire three rounds.
McCall’s character won the crowd over. His charisma shone through, making the crowd feel apart of the action, even during fight.
It was a very close fight between McCall and Johnson and could have gone either way, but in the end the judges scored the card 29-28 McCall, 29-28 Johnson and 29-28 and the winner by split decision was Johnson.
Or so we thought.
It was not until the post-fight press conference where we learned about a crucial mistake made by the Combat Sports of NSW Commissioner, Craig Waller.
Dana White led the press conference with the good news, but with the good, came the bad.
The McCall/Johnson fight was in fact supposed to be a draw and should have gone to a fourth round.
I think we all felt exactly like Joseph Benavidez’s reaction to the news – shocked.
It was due to human error by the Commissioner who admitted to his mistake and took full personal responsibility.
“I take full responsibility for the error incurred. I misread one of the scorecards which was transpired on on the tally sheet. The fight should have been a majority draw, we should have gone into that fourth round.”
“I sincerely apologise to both fighters, to Dana and to every single fan of the UFC”
The error was due to a miscalculation by the Commissioner. One judge scored the the third round 10-8 and was put down on the tally card as a 10-9 round.
The title shot for the flyweight division will be pushed back and the winner of the other semi-final, Joseph Benavidez, will have to wait until the re-match between McCall and Johnson takes place and his opponent is decided.
As to a timeframe of when that will happen will all depend on their fitness and when the UFC can fit the fight into their schedule.
McCall and Jonson both received their winners bonus as well as their Fight of the Night bonus. White also confirmed that the draw and will appropriately reflect on both McCall and Johnson’s record.
Apologies are all well and good from the Commissioner, however, it does not change the fact that a very silly error was made.
While I appreciate human errors are inevitable, you would have hoped procedures are set in place to ensure things like this do not happen – a simple double check by another party would be a start.
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