"It's not fighting" - Ariel Helwani and Al Iaquinta disagree on open scoring in MMA

Al Iaquinta seemingly disagrees with Ariel Helwani on implementing open scoring in MMA. Helwani has been relentlessly lobbying to introduce an open scoring system in MMA. Helwani believes that while the fight is underway, the fighters, their corners, and even the fans should be updated as to what scores the three official judges for an MMA bout are giving each fighter.

Helwani has consistently claimed that this system would tremendously benefit MMA, primarily because the fighters and their corners will be aware of where they stand in the fight from a points perspective. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Iaquinta disagreed with Helwani and stated:

“The drawback is that it’s not fighting. To know the score, it’s like a sports thing. This is the essence of like, this is what it’s all about. Baseball, basketball, football, those guys are basically, they’re fighting each other. And they’re agreeing not to fight. They’re not gonna hurt each other.”

The 35-year-old explained that in a non-combat sport such as baseball, football, or basketball, opposing players and teams agree to fight one another to see who’s better. Nevertheless, they don’t literally fight, as they aren’t fighters, but instead compete against their opponents by following the sport’s rules and keeping score. Iaquinta said:

“So, the score doesn’t really mean. It’s like, you know, we’re competing in this game, and that’s the score. When you’re watching a fight, you know who’s winning. You can see who’s winning the fight, who’s not winning the fight. To put a number on it in between the rounds, that’s not combat. That’s not fighting.”

Iaquinta emphasized that it’s bad judging which needs to be fixed, adding that open scoring won’t necessarily solve poor judging. He opined that intelligent fighters generally understand whether they’re winning or losing the fight on the scorecards. Iaquinta further alluded to the significance of fight IQ rather than reliance on open scoring in MMA.

Watch Al Iaquinta’s conversation with Ariel Helwani in the video below:

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Al Iaquinta provides an update on his potential comeback

Al Iaquinta’s most recent fight was a first-round TKO loss against Bobby Green at UFC 268 in November 2021. The New York native subsequently suggested that he’d retired from MMA but wasn’t really sure about his decision.

During their latest conversation, Helwani asked Iaquinta about the chances of him returning to the octagon for the July 16th UFC event that’s expected to take place in Long Island. Iaquinta responded by saying: “Slim to none.” Helwani then questioned whether Iaquinta was done with MMA, to which the UFC lightweight veteran simply replied that he doesn’t know.