http://mmajunkie.com/news/27452/live-in-fight-statistics-likely-to-remain-on-future-ufc-broadcasts.mmaOMAHA, Neb. – Wednesday's UFC on FUEL TV 1 event delivered in many ways with great fights, a raucous crowd and a thrilling headliner.
TV viewers also got a treat that earned lots of praise: the implementation of live in-fight statistics during each bout.
Such stats likely will be part of future broadcasts, according to UFC president Dana White, who recently told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) that constant tweaks are being made to the UFC-FOX broadcasts.
"I told you, a lot of things in production we're changing when we got into this new deal, and one of them is stats," he said after UFC on FUEL TV 1, which took place Wednesday at Nebraska's Omaha Civic Auditorium. "We've been giving tons of stats – not only during the fight, but before the fight we give a ton of [stats] too."
While the UFC has previously given the occasional stats between rounds or during a fight, Wednesday's broadcast saw a much more formal presentation. Total punches landed, connected low kicks, successful takedowns and others telling stats were shown in real time during the course of the action.
For example, how dominant was T.J. Dillashaw in his main-card bout with fellow bantamweight Walel Watson? After two lopsided rounds, Dillashaw had landed 148 fights to Watson's four.
Stats don't always tell the whole story, but White thinks they can add some important context.
"There's just so much more to MMA," White said. "We're just giving more information."
From small shows to major pay-per-view events, the UFC provides large videos screens for those in attendance to better see the action. Even cageside judges sometimes need a better viewpoint when the action is obstructed by a cage post, the referee or the fighters' own bodies.
But could the live stats sway a judge in an unfair way?
"They do it in boxing," White said. "It's no different than boxing. But the difference between this and boxing is the amount of strikes (landed) have nothing to do with what goes on in MMA. If that's swaying your decision, you definitely don't [expletive] belong here. If they're turning around (to look at the screens) and then going, 'OK,' and writing their score down, they don't belong here."
After all, far more goes into MMA and MMA scoring than simple striking. So they're simply a tool, and White thinks any judge worth his salt isn't going to be fooled or swayed by a few fight-night stat totals.
"The punch stats don't always tell who's winning the fight," he said. "We just need guys in there that know exactly what they're doing and can judge. And let's be honest – to be kind of fair to them – judging is somewhat subjective into what you think.
"But the bottom line is, you've got to go on damage. You've got to go on – there's a lot of different things to score on, and judges should know what it is."
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