Dana White had a lot to celebrate at UFC 307 but don’t expect him to applaud the judges or referees working the event.

There were more than a few controversial scorecards delivered — perhaps none more important than Julianna Pena getting a split-decision win over Raquel Pennington in the co-main event — as well as some gaffes from less experienced referees that marred a few of the fights on the card. When it came specifically to the scoring at UFC 307, White didn’t mention any fights by name, but he was clearly not happy with some of the results returned.

“I thought the judging tonight was atrocious,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “I felt like I was at a boxing match in Ireland tonight.

“I thought the judging was atrocious tonight. I’ll just leave it that. It was atrocious.”

It’s possible White was also referencing the split-decision win earned by Mario Bautista over Jose Aldo in another main card fight on Saturday, although he definitely wasn’t happy with referee Mike Beltran.

His ire came down to Bautista constantly looking for takedowns, coming up short but then holding Aldo up against the cage in the clinch. There was one moment in particular where Beltran actually separated the fighters, but immediately on the restart, Bautista dove for Aldo’s legs again and it put him right back in the same position on the fence.

“It’s common sense,” White said. “When the guy keeps doing it, and is doing everything he can to not fight, and not win the fight, as a ref, you should break it up immediately. If he just did it three rounds in a row, and he keeps doing it, and they get there, and he doesn’t get the takedown, give him a couple of seconds, see if he gets the takedown and break it up.”

White would actually like to see the referees get more involved in those kinds of situations where he believes stalling tactics are being employed to avoid potential damage from a striking exchange.

The same goes for scoring the fights because White doesn’t understand how someone like Bautista is being rewarded by winning rounds yet not inflicting any real damage.

“I always think that the referees should be more active on that. 100 percent,” White said. “Especially when somebody keeps doing it to stall. You guys aren’t going to f*cking let up on this are you? I guess we’ll get into it. If you’re judging on a guy if it’s control, if it’s this or that, if you’re not trying to fight, how do you win the fight? If you’re looking at attempted takedowns, what about stuffing the takedowns? Just madness.

“When you can tell that the guy definitely doesn’t to stand and strike and just wants to stall against the fence, yes, the refs, that’s their job. When they see it continually happening and the guy is not trying to win the fight, then you keep breaking them up.”

As much as White advocates for referees getting more involved in creating action during a fight, he understands there are limits.

Perhaps the best example of that came earlier in the night during the preliminary card when referee Dave Seljestad broke apart Cesar Almeida and Ihor Potieria just second after they got clinched up against the cage. The commentary team working the fights called out the actions several times as Seljestad almost treated the fight like a boxing match by repeatedly breaking up Almeida and Potieria during the fight.

What made matters worse was the referee failing to administer the rules properly after Potieria suffered through several eye pokes but there was never a point taken away nor was Almeida actually warned about repeated fouls.

Even though White didn’t see what exactly unfolded, he heard all about it afterwards from Marc Ratner, the UFC’s vice president of regulatory affairs.

“I missed that [fight],” White said. “I was in my room and we were talking to people, but [Marc] Ratner walked in right after it happened and was like ‘that ain’t happening again tonight.’”

Seljestad didn’t reappear at UFC 307, although the Almeida vs. Potieria bout was already scheduled as his final bout as referee on Saturday.

Kayla Harrison tasted her own blood for the first time in her MMA career in the UFC 307 main card opener against Ketlen Vieira.

Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) stepped into the octagon at Delta Center in Salt Lake City for her sophomore UFC appearance and dominated Vieira (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) when the fight hit the ground to win a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

Harrison started the fight patiently but still controlled the action from the center. Harrison’s first clinch didn’t go anywhere, which boded well for Vieira’s prospects of keeping the fight upright. However, the second attempt to get the fight to the ground was a clean takedown, leading to heavy ground and pound strikes with less than a minute to go.

The horn sounded to signal the end of Round 1 with Harrison smashing Vieira on the ground.

The pair engaged on the feet for the first half of Round 2 before Harrison began to look for a takedown. The clinch work against the fence produced a few nasty short strikes, including a vicious elbow from Vieira that opened a cut and caused swelling.

HEMATOMA ON KAYLA 😳 #UFC307 pic.twitter.com/FAAMWv8hy6

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 6, 2024

The action stalled, prompting referee Marc Goddard to separate the two for the final moments of the round.

With the fight potentially tied going into Round 3, Harrison came out with a few aggressive strikes to set the tone. Harrison closed in and got the fight to the ground with a nice bodylock takedown with just under three minutes remaining and went to work with ground and pound.

Harrison dominated the remainder of the fight until the final horn, when she then helped her opponent to her feet, showing respect for one another.

TITLE SHOT NEXT FOR KAYLA HARRISON 😤 #UFC307 pic.twitter.com/FHQzLr71LB

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 6, 2024

“You’re the first person to make me bleed!” Harrison told Vieira while hugging after Bruce Buffer read the official decision.

During her post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Harrison didn’t mince words when asked about a potential title shot in her next appearance.

“Ladies, enjoy it while you can, because the queen is home, and she’s coming for that f*cking gold!”

Harrison improves to 2-0 in the UFC, and is likely next in line for a shot at the women’s bantamweight title, which is on the line later on the card in the co-main bout between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 307 results include:

• Kayla Harrison def. Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Joaquin Buckley def. Stephen Thompson via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 2:17
• Iasmin Lucindo def. Marina Rodriguez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alexander Hernandez def. Austin Hubbard via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
• Cesar Almeida def. Ihor Potieria via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ryan Spann def. Ovince Saint Preux via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:35
• Tecia Pennington def. Carla Esparza via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Court McGee def. Tim Means via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:19

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

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