Issue 065
August 2010
One of the aspects of a journalist’s job is to prepare stories for ‘in the event of’ moments. I sharpened my pencil when I learned of the disaster waiting to happen when, earlier this year, Lyoto Machida and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua prepared to meet for a second time for the UFC light heavyweight title. Given the controversial judging in their first encounter, you’d have thought that the powers that be might have played safe. Instead, they took a massive gamble.
The three officials brought in by the Quebec Athletic Commission were Tony Weeks, Sal D’Amato and Pasquale Procopio.
Canadian Procopio was a super featherweight boxer in the eighties, who had little or no MMA judging experience. What he did have was vast experience as a boxing judge, having been ringside as a working official at many boxing title fights. Procopio was given the nod ahead of fellow Quebecois judges Claude Paquette and David Therien, two more-experienced officials.
It was a disaster waiting to happen. Obviously, given the outcome of the contest, it is now irrelevant; ‘Shogun’ let his powerful dukes complete the judging system. Yet given the outrage, and mistakes which had surrounded events seven months earlier, what was the commission thinking in appointing a judge with so little experience in a UFC title contest that had every chance of developing into a technical ‘chess’ match? The scoring of the bout could have been critical. In the first clash, all three judges – Nelson Hamilton, Cecil Peoples and Marcos Rosales –scored the bout 48-47 Machida (to widespread disbelief).
Thank heavens it was a decisive result. A potential disaster was averted. The answer? The training and development, immediately, of more officials from within the sport.
Daleygate: Wrong action at the right time for a marker to be laid out in the sand…
Regardless of the supportive outpourings from numb mixed martial arts fans following Paul Daley’s exeunt sans honeur in Montreal after his ill-advised left hook thrown in anger at Josh Koscheck after the final hooter, it was imperative that a line was drawn in the sand as governs comportment by sportsmen in the Octagon.
In this case, there clearly wasn’t. Daley’s action was the wrong thing at the wrong time in a sport moving into the mainstream, and policing the sport is going to become one of the major issues as it grows.
Moreover, regardless of whether there is a school of thought that UFC president Dana White’s modus operandi involves an emotional / gut reaction to events, his decision, in my view, was correct on this occasion. Not perhaps the 100-year ban he first proposed for Daley from the UFC, but corrective measures were needed.
I wish, however, that commissions would take the lead and mete out punishment fairly, squarely and with alacrity. The first act of punishment should come from the commission rather than the promoter. Credit must go to Daley, too, for taking the decision without railing against it. He was both contrite and fulsome in his apology. Let’s hope he finds a way back.
White wanted to send a message that set a marker for any fighter who might bring the sport into disrepute.
What good is Randy Couture versus James Toney?
Couture vs Toney… please. I got in a debate about this the other day and had to stick my head in a bucket of ice afterwards. This harks back to Muhammad Ali versus Antonio Inoki in my book – I hated it, hated the mismatch, the pretence. What is the benefit in this contest, for Toney or for Randy? Or even for boxing or MMA?
The usual suspects will trot out their lines after this contest. It is not sport, I’m afraid – just spectacle. Sure, a prime Mike Tyson would have been worth a shout in MMA, given his explosive finishing power, but this is way too late for Toney, who will spend his MMA debut on his back, a place no boxer ever wants to be.
UK and European fighters need to get to the mats
Dan Hardy, the English welterweight who holds the distinction of becoming the first British fighter to contest a UFC title, will go a long way. He has set the benchmark for all other European mixed martial artists.
He is taking a six-month sabbatical in wrestling. The time on the mat may change his style slightly, but it remains essential if he is to progress. Bas Rutten admitted in conversation with Hardy that the lack of skills on the mat cost him dear during his career. I’d go further – top European contenders need to go on two-year wrestling sabbaticals in the United States. Without those skills in their armory, British and European fighters will only ever be flashes in the pan at title level.
Gareth A Davies is boxing and MMA correspondent for The Daily Telegraph.
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