UFC president Dana White was not too happy about how UFC 239’s headliner fight between Jon Jones and Thiago Santos went down in the score cards.
For the first time in his stint as UFC light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones lost on the judges’ scorecards. It was judge Junichiro Kamijo who had challenger Thiago Santos winning the fight 48-47, giving Jones his first split decision verdict.
Many questioned the scoring, Dana White being one of the most notable ones to do so. In an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC president did not hold back on his words, as he always does when he feels strongly against rendered decisions such as this one.
“Anybody who scores that fight for Santos is out of their mind,” he said. “You should never judge another fight if you judged Santos (as the winner). Santos fought tough, he’s a tough guy. Something happened to his leg or his knee in the second round and he fought through it and he was tough. But he lost that fight.”
Jones was on the receiving end of some boos from the crowd, who were seemingly expecting an entirely dominant performance. But for White, the result was still as clear as day.
“It wasn’t a two-and-a-half-second flying knee knockout, it wasn’t knocking out someone who hasn’t been knocked out in MMA before and things like that,” he explained. “But he went out and he won the fight.
“It’s not a crowd-pleaser, it’s not one of those wins that has everybody jumping up and down for joy, but he won the fight. Against a really tough guy who came to fight and came to win.”
Jones now jumps to a record of 25-1 (with 1 NC and 16 wins by stoppage).