Issue 064

July 2010

Frankie Edgar’s win over former lightweight champion BJ Penn at April’s UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi was an impressive display of rapid-fire boxing and excellent defensive footwork. But while most observers of the fight believed that Edgar had done just enough to claim the belt from Penn, judge Douglas Crosby awarded the New Jersey native all five rounds of the fight – despite the fact that ‘The Prodigy’ outstruck ‘The Answer’ 35–16 over the first ten minutes of the fight (according to a FightMetric report). 

While Crosby’s curious evaluation didn’t cost Penn the fight, it’s certainly not the first odd score we’ve seen in recent high-profile fights. Many observers questioned the validity of Leonard Garcia’s split-decision win over Chan Jung Sung at April’s WEC pay-per-view, ‘Aldo vs Faber’. Ditto for the surprising 30-27 score announced for Forrest Griffin in his December 2009 win over Tito Ortiz.  

And who could forget the shocking 48-47 scores in the October 2009 first bout between UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and the apparently snubbed challenger Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua? Even UFC President Dana White was appalled, and he arranged the recently-contested rematch between the two as a result of the apparent judging mistake. 

In light of these and other debated judging errors, many MMA fans and observers have called for a variety of potential revisions to the current ten point-must scoring format. Veteran official Nelson ‘Doc’ Hamilton has long supported a half-point system, where the loser of a round would earn 9.5 points or less depending on performance, rather than the traditional 9. It’s an interesting proposal that could hold merit in a sport where 10-8 rounds are issued far too infrequently – but this doesn’t solve the problem of judges simply incorrectly identifying the winner of a round. 

Others have suggested that the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts should adopt the Pride method of scoring, in which fights are judged as a whole rather than by rounds, and efforts to finish the fight are rewarded. But in combat sports the idea of ‘stealing’ a round by ensuring you’re the busier, more aggressive fighter at the end of the frame is well ingrained into the psyche of most contestants. It’s difficult for judges to correctly balance everything in their mind that happens over the course of a complete round. Now imagine trying to do the same for a 15-minute contest – or even a 25-minute title fight. It’s a near-impossible task.

It’s not the judging system itself that needs to be overhauled; it’s the judges. This is one place where mixed martial arts fans could – and should – get involved in the action.

UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner, the highly respected former executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio that he envisioned the world’s largest mixed martial arts promotion taking an active role in the development of qualified officials in coming years.  

Citing a need to “deepen the pool of officials,” Ratner said once the UFC has finished with its current goal of gaining regulation throughout the US and Canada, the organization can focus on working with local athletic commissions to recruit and train new judges and referees. While local athletic commissions have long used boxing officials to oversee mixed martial arts contests, Ratner rightly believes this is hardly the best solution. 

“I’m not so sure you want the boxing crossover,” Ratner said. “There are some who can really do it, but you want people who have really learned the martial arts, who know about these different holds and the grappling. It’s very important to get people experienced in martial arts. 

“To be a good MMA referee, you really have to be able to have rolled around a little bit and really understand the sport. If you’re a boxing guy, it’s real tough just to come over because you’re looking at different things.” 

That’s where you come in. While mixed martial arts fans will likely never get a chance to play matchmaker and decide who Anderson Silva should really be fighting next, the chance to judge an MMA bout is a far more reachable goal. With many MMA fans also training in the arts of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo and Muay Thai (among others), their understanding of the sport as a whole is on a different level than many judges who have made the transition from a similar role in boxing. 

With most local athletic commissions, a simple application form and a small fee are all that stands between you and a chance to properly score an MMA contest. The method for scoring mixed martial arts fights isn’t flawed, but the qualifications of the arbiters sometimes can be. As the old saying goes: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Aspiring cage fighters may quickly realize they’ll never be champion mixed martial artists – but it doesn’t mean they can’t help properly decide who is. 

Oh, and a few TV monitors for those judges wouldn’t be the worst idea, either. 

John Morgan is the lead staff reporter for MMAjunkie.com and was voted by MMA fans as the Best MMA Journalist in the 2009 Fighters Only World MMA Awards.