Bob Bennett: NAC decision has not been made yet on Adalaide Byrd judging at UFC 216
Adalaide Byrd’s immediate future in judging — at least when it comes to UFC fights — has yet to be finalized.
Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett told MMA Fighting on Monday that there has been no decision made yet with regards to Byrd judging at UFC 216 on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas. Chris Maathuis of CBS Las Vegas reported earlier Monday that Byrd would be off the card as a result of her controversial scorecard for the boxing match between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin on Saturday night.
“I will speak with the chairman (Anthony Marnell III) and Adalaide and we will decide in a week or so,” Bennett said.
Bennett told The Independent on Monday that he’d be giving Byrd “a small break” before putting her back in to score fights.
Byrd scored the Alvarez vs. Golokvin fight 118-110 for Alvarez when many people had either Golovkin winning or a much closer bout than that. Judge Dave Moretti had it 115-113 for Golovkin, while judge Don Trella scored it a 114-114 draw.
“I’m not going to put her right back in,” Bennett told The Independent. “She’ll still be in the business, but she needs to catch her breath.
“Like in any profession, you have a bad night. Unfortunately, she didn’t do well. I can tell you she conducts training for us, takes judges under her wing, but her score was too wide.”
Bennett told MMA Fighting that he would not comment on giving Byrd a break. MMA Fighting reached Byrd briefly Monday and she said she did not wish to comment on the criticisms that have been levied, but said she was not aware of the commission wanting her to take a break.
“I don’t know anything about that,” Byrd said. “That’s really all I can say.”
Boxing analysts and the mainstream press have raked Byrd — and the Nevada commission — over the coals in recent days. ESPN’s Teddy Atlas accused Byrd and the NAC of “corruption.”
“I can’t comment on anything, because I haven’t seen or read anything at all,” Byrd said. “I can’t comment, because I don’t even know what people are saying.”
Byrd added: “I’m just trying to be strong, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Byrd, a highly experienced judge, has been on the wrong side of controversial scorecards in the past, including in MMA. According to MMADecisions.com, Byrd was the lone dissenting judge in six split decisions last year in mixed martial arts.
Her most disputed MMA scorecards have been giving Melvin Guillard a 30-27 against Jamie Varner in 2012 when the other two judges had Varner winning 30-27 and giving Leonard Garcia a 29-28 against Nam Phan in 2010 when most felt Phan was the rightful winner.