Issue 056
November 2009
Ever found yourself disagreeing with an official decision? Put bias to one side and learn from Nelson ‘Doc’ Hamilton how to judge an MMA fight.
The Right Stuff
“Judges have to have a thorough understanding of the scoring system. They must have integrity, and avoid any personal prejudices and ambitions that may shade their judgment. If you know a fighter on a social level, and they
give you that fight to judge, you have to have the integrity to tell the commission that you don’t feel comfortable judging. And, in terms of their mind, judges have to have a blank slate. Every fight starts evenly. They have to go
against anticipating any result. A previous round should not influence the next. They need to have focus, and key in on what’s going on.”
What to look for
“The criteria in and of itself is fairly simple: Effective striking, grappling, aggression and cage control. Applying those during the course of a fight is where the art comes in. Anybody can learn the criteria, but applying them is something else. And that’s what we’ve got to work with right now. I think there’s a better way to do it insofar as making the number one criteria damage. If you do that, it essentially takes care of effective striking. If a guy is lumped up and bleeding, you know who was effective in striking. If you’re in a fight, what else matters?”
Inequities in current scoring
“How many times have you watched a fight, and one fighter puts the other in a real predicament such as a submission hold? A near submission – he’s almost taking him out, but he doesn’t get credit for it! The perfect example is the fight between Matt Hughes and Renato ‘Charuto’ Verissimo [UFC 48, 2004]. Charuto had him in so much trouble during that fight. At the end of round one, two judges didn’t even give him the round, and I almost made it a 10-8 round for Charuto! What else does the guy have to do?
“When something like that happens, the commissions have to hold the feet to the fire of those judges who came up with that decision, and say, ‘That’s unacceptable, and if you don’t know what you’re watching, you’d better find out.’
“In the fight between Jeff Curran and Takeya Mizugaki [Mizugaki won via split decision], one of the judges asked me how I scored the fight. I knew right away there was some kind of controversy. If I was judging the fight, I would
Transforming the scoring system
“The decision makers, basically the athletic commissions, are not very savvy with regards to the sport. They are quite complacent to go along with what they know, which is the 10-9 scoring system. They don’t understand the half-point system, because they’ve never used it. Anyone who has used it knows it’s a superior system, particularly with regards to three-round fights, where, if a fighter loses two rounds 10-9, he can’t win the fight unless he knocks the guy out or submits him.
“I think that the system that I have recommended is far superior to the one we have now. But I also think that it’s never going to be adopted. As long as the athletic commissions are involved, you’re not going to see much change. They have no passion for the sport, it’s just a job. But, if enough people see it, like it, and talk about it, well, that’s the way things start to happen.”
Can controversy be avoided?
“I’ve seen fights where the decision was unanimous, and still people are talking about the controversial decision. You’ve got three judges sitting there for every minute of every round, all three voted for the same guy, and they will still say there’s a controversy.
“There may have been controversies in some fights that I’ve judged but, honestly, I don’t know what they are because I don’t pay any attention to it. I know that I’m good at what I do. I know that I sit there, and I give it 100% of my focus while I’m doing it. Then whatever the decision is, that’s what it is; and when it’s over, it’s over.”
Training courses
“I run judging and refereeing seminars. For the judging, you go over the criteria in depth, and how you apply it. I have videos that show fights and they score those fights. Then we discuss why you scored it this way, banter back and forth. At the end there’s a test, and they need 90% to pass. Maybe 50% of people actually pass the course.”
‘Doc’ Hamilton’s prescription to judging a fight from your armchair
Step 1
“Turn off the volume – avoid being swayed by commentators and the crowd because they are very good at sensationalizing anything.”
Step 2
“Take out a paper and pencil. Draw a line down the middle. On one half you put one fighter’s name. Draw two more lines, so you have three rounds. Watch the fight and take note of what’s going on, based on the criteria. Realize it’s a sliding scale, so, if they are standing 90% of the time, striking would be predominant.”
Step 3
“At the end of each round, put your score down on the paper, then leave it. Once that bell rings, my score should be immediately on the paper.”
Step 4
“See how you match up with the judges. If you are not in synch with them, you have to start thinking about what they did that you didn’t do. Did you come in with a bias? That’s one thing judges cannot afford to have.”
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