Tanner
Boser is questioning the qualifications of mixed martial arts
judges.
While the
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight acknowledges that
judges usually score fights correctly, he says mistakes can have
significant consequences for fighters’ careers.
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Tanner Boser questions MMA judging qualifications ahead of
Jhonata Diniz fight at UFC Edmonton
Boser faces Jhonata
Diniz on Oct. 17 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Ahead of
the bout, he questioned whether judges without fighting experience
are equipped to score MMA.
“They get way more right than they do wrong,” Boser said at
UFC Edmonton media day. “But it’s just that when they get
something wrong, it affects somebody’s life in a very, very
significant way. It is what it is. It’s just an imperfect system…
Who are the judges? Were they fighters? Because if they are not,
you don’t really know your logic. Were they boxers? Because that’s
kind of different too… But a lot of the time the judges are just a
guy. You want me to sit there and score figure skating? I don’t
know what I’m watching. That’s kind of what is going on with some
of them… Every now and then there is one score wrong where my mom
watching at home knows who won that fight. And you know who won
that fight; I know who won that fight. How the hell did this guy
whose job it is didn’t know who won that f*cking fight.”
Boser lost consecutive decisions to Andrei
Arlovski in 2020 and Ilir Latifi
in 2021. He accepted responsibility for the Arlovski defeat but
believes he deserved the decision against Latifi. Boser is coming
off a stoppage loss to Gokhan
Saricam that ended a two-fight winning streak.