Issue 101

May 2013

The MMA and Boxing Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, London on Rousey in New York, stats for judges and PED war.

The die is cast. Women’s MMA has arrived at the top of the food chain. The UFC raised its imperial thumb, and the Rubicon was crossed. But its catalyst, Ronda Rousey, is more than just a pretty face and a gifted fighter. 

I can reveal Rousey has also been assisting the UFC with its regulation and commission work in both New York State and California, as an ambassador for the state sanctioning process. 

By all accounts, Ms Rousey has been both a compelling and impressive public speaker in political boardrooms. Not surprising, really, as the charm is self-evident in the media coverage swirling around her. 

Rousey is still a young woman, of course, and as she matures, she may have a deep part to play in educating the naysayers. Like those in New York. 

On that note, the deeper picture is intriguing at present – when it comes to sanctioning in the Empire State. It’s known that unlicensed amateur MMA is taking place in the state, and also on Indian reservations where the tax laws, of course, are different. It’s why so many fight events have often taken place there. For those unaware, the reason for this is recompense to the Native American people for the disgraceful way they were treated by settlers and invaders. 

The UFC has an argument that licensing in New York State, through the athletic commission, would be an economic win for areas in deep recession – places like Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, and the surrounding locales, where they’ve already sourced venues that could hold UFC events, and indeed, where MMA is thriving. 

Within New York City itself, the UFC reckons it can bring in 12 to 15 million dollars to the economy through a Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center fight, and, I understand, that figure would be five to seven million in those surrounding areas mentioned above. 

March 11th was a significant date. A proposal for MMA housed within the Senate Budget Package, as part of an omnibus bill could potentially be approved by the entire legislature, and then it would be signed off on by the governor. 

Judging technology 

Is it time to arm judges Octagonside with not only monitors, but also statistical analysis of each five minutes between rounds? It remains a mystery as to why some judges perceive fights in a radically different manner, far removed from the way the masses of us judge them. 

The latest glaring case in point was Che Mills against Matt Riddle at Wembley Arena, London. Quite how Riddle won

by split decision – meaning one judge marked two of the three rounds to Mills – is incomprehensible. 

To avoid this kind of scoring, what would be wrong with a stats analysis from the round popping up on a monitor in front them, for 20 seconds between rounds? 

FightMetric, or even individuals such as Reed Kuhn – who could provide a breakdown from his Fightnomics brain – could give the judges a clean, clear directive on the fight statistics from each segmented round. 

Even soccer opened the floodgates for goal-line imaging technology recently, which will begin during its World Cup in Brazil; tennis has been improved by technology, through Hawkeye, which shows by using a shadowing effect if the ball has touched a line; and referrals of decisions in cricket to television officials have not radically changed the character of international cricket. Do we think it would work? Would it help? 

Civil war on PED cheats

Applause and ringing endorsement to any fighters out there who are standing up against performance-enhancing drug-taking in sport. UFC middleweight Tom Watson’s diatribe after his defeat of Stanislav Nedkov in London in February (and continued on page 58 of this issue) has put him out there as one of the most eloquent and outspoken critics of PEDs and TRT. 

“Look at cycling and Lance Armstrong and the damage it caused the sport,” he told me just recently. “Testosterone replacement therapy is a load of crap. I train really hard every day and I’m exhausted. You go to work every day, you work hard, you’re tired. If you take drugs at work, to keep you going, you’ll get fired from your job. 

“Something has to be done, and if it is too difficult with the powers that be to get it done, then that’s my mission in MMA now, to get drugs out and win fights myself on heart and chin. But not on drugs.” Hurrah to that.