SpecC

This stems from Joe Rogan mentioning that he would have to analyze the first two rounds of the Condit-Diaz fight. I thought it was quite interesting and should get some thought.

What's wrong with MMA judging?

So, we all know the judging system in MMA is terribly flawed and the variance in what each judge values is incredibly high. The utter lack of consistency is by far the biggest problem for MMA today in my humble opinion. And it definitely should not be that way. A definitive win that is clear to most of us whether it was a wrestle fest or a face mangling Bisping point win. In addition, the judges didn't have monitors until recently? This is clearly absurd.

Okay, what do we do?

Now, one solution is of course to change the judging criteria, but that is very difficult to implement in that the sport is green. The number of "experts" is also very small. I would think it's just expensive to train people to fit a new system, go through some kind of testing phase where fighters may suffer and the number of people willing to properly go through with everything is so small. It's not impossible, and I bet Dana White is pushing for this one.

Another way that might be very interesting is having one day to analyze a fight through video. You can have a panel of judges watch a fight on their own with clear angles and replays to CLEARLY determine a winner. This will give the decision far more credibility than an open ended on the spot decision of "I'll just pencil in one because it was hard to see." I believe this one would be fun for the public as well. You get to have a full day of speculation and online voting with prizes as incentives. The UFC has always been good with this.

Your clear wins will not change of course. Your close decisions are the ones which will dearly need analyzing. Statistics on each round should be available to judges as well. Moreover, they relieve the crowd noise factor in relation to how significant a strike or submission may have been.

Your thoughts, please?

badboy

Just get rid of Decisions altogether. If a fight goes the distance its a draw. This would stop pointscorers from abusing the system and fans pockets. This is the UFC, its the Ultimate Fighting Championships! You want to compete in a points game? Go do amateur boxing or BJJ events. If a fighter flat out refuses to engage either standing or ground they should be deducted from their purse.

__________________
dunno why i chose this name tbh

beardsleybob

On his podcast, Joe Rogan also raised the issue of judges watching the fight cageside and how their view is detrimental. They should watch the fights backstage on a monitor, no distractions with a perfect view of the action. Full access to replays between rounds. Yellow card system to combat the issue of point fighting