via www.sherdog.com

I am pretty tired of all of the talk being focused on so-called “robberies” in this weekend’s close main event battle and very little attention being paid to the failures of the current MMA judging/scoring system.  Based on the entire outcry from the fights this weekend, I feel like no one is satisfied with the current system in place.  The 10-point must system is inadequate to determine the winner of a fight in which a majority of the rounds were tight.  The first 4 rounds of the Machida/Rua fight were really close and really tough to judge.  The scoring system in place now doesn't take into account that each judge may be looking at the fight differently and has different views on what is being done effectively.  It also fails to determine which type of attack should be valued higher.  Is a leg kick from Shogun worth more than a straight left from Machida? We rarely see 10-10 or 10-8 rounds in MMA and 10-9 rounds are not being equally valued.  For example the 10-9 round in the Velasquez/Rothwell fight for Velasquez is not the same as a 10-9 round of Machida.  A 10-9 round that is clearly for one fighter should be given more credit than a 10-9 round for a close fight.

I am suggesting that a new scoring method should be created and adopted for MMA.

I know the amateur boxing scoring system is not widely accepted within the boxing community, but I believe it can be adapted to work well within MMA.  Fighters will be given points on what they do during the round: effective striking, dominant positions, submission attempts, ground transitions, escapes/reversals, and overall damage.  To get points, 2 of the 3 judges have to score the exchange for that fighter.  The judges will have a buzzer type of tool where they ring in what they deem is point worthy.  From here, I see two viable options. Keep the round-winning system, or use a Pride-based system where the whole bout is scored in its entirety.

Keeping the system similar to the current round-winning system goes as follows: at the end of the round the points will be tallied and the fighter with the higher point total wins the round.  The fighter with the majority of the rounds wins the fight.  The cumulative tallies are used in the event there is a draw for one or more of the individual rounds. In those cases where we have a tie for rounds won, the winner will be determined by the overall point totals. 

Another option would be to adopt the old Pride system where the winners were determined by what the fighters accomplished over the course of the entire fight. The winner of the fight would be determined by the cumulative totals. I believe this takes all the pressure off judging fights.  Instead of forcing the judges to make 3 or 5 separate decisions on 5-minute intervals of action, they will instead be relying on their instantaneous reactions to the fight in the ring. No longer will they have to replay each round in their head and convince themselves of who had the better cagemanship.

Regardless of which system is chosen, the move to the amateur boxing scoring system will force the judges become more knowledgeable on MMA and it will value more aspects of the fight rather than just giving the round to one guy because of a general set of criteria.  With a more specific set of criteria I hope the fighters will win based on their merits and not on what is perceived to be happening.

There are a few shortcomings with this system: competent judges, consistency between commissions, landing clean shots compared to power shots, judging between 2 simultaneous strikes, and valuing aggression.  Also it would need to be determined how many points are taken away if there is a foul by one of the fighters, and whether points will be taken away based of the severity of the penalty (i.e. intentional low-blows compared to a fighter stalling).   

By Davey S. and Desertsamurai31 

Touché.  Mir has found a coaching staff to rival Nogueira's superstar staff (see my previous post "TUF Dream Team" ).  Two of his assistant coaches were revealed to be Rafael Alejarra and Robert Drysdale.  Alejarra will be Team Mir's strength and conditioning coach, and Drysdale (who won numerous Brazilian jiu-jitsu championships) as the jiu-jitsu coach.  Alejarra is known as the guy started training Wanderlei Silva using the snorkel to help is conditioning and breathing.  Alejarra has notably worked or is working with the likes of Wanderlei, Minotauro Nogueira, Jacare, Drysdale, and Gabriel Gonzaga.

According to mmaweekly.com:

In an interview with Tatame, Alejarra stated that the show is already in production and that he will assist Mir in getting his team ready, as the former champion asked him for assistance during the season....

.... He also revealed Drysdale as the jiu-jitsu coach in the interview, but stated that because of his longtime relationship with Nogueira, the opposing coach on the show, that he would not train Mir personally for his fight against the champion.

It appears that both teams will be excellently coached and the fighters should consider themselves lucky to work with such esteemed coaches.  With such great coaching, we can only hope this next season will be more engaging than the current.

Frank Mir has a huge challenge ahead of not and its not just in Minotauro Nogueira.  Nogueira's coaching team for TUF 8 is reported to be UFC middleweight Champ Anderson Silva and light heavywieght contender Lyoto Machida.  From Tatame.com.br and traslated via google:

Rodrigo Minotauro's team on TUF just got two top-notch reinforcements to battle Frank Mir's team. Minota (as he's also known in Brazil) will be aided by a UFC Champion, Anderson Silva, and Lyoto Machida, who walked right through Tito Ortiz on UFC 84, in his athletes' trainning sessions. "I want to appologize to Leal Combat, but I've got a contract with the UFC, and won't be able to attend to their event", said Anderson Silva, who's already with Lyoto at the house where they film the tv show, to help Minotauro get one more victory in his carreer

The contestants for this next TUF season will have the benefit of training with three of the world's best mix martial artist and Minotauro will have excellent training partners to prepare him for his fight against Mir. 

Imagine all of the things the participants will learn from those three... Anderson Silva's sweep or Lyoto's switch kick

via i251.photobucket.com

Frank Mir's coaching staff for TUF may have their work cut out for them, but we'll see who Mir announces for his staff.

BJ Penn has two losses that he wants to avenge, the Matt Hughes loss and the Georges St. Pierre loss, with GPS taking the priority.  GSP is on the top of his list because right now is the best fighter in his weightclass and is still improving.  He is training in Brazil with Gracie Barra to roll with their black belts and improve his jiu jitsu.  He is also working on his stand up by boxing at the acclaimed Academia Nobre Arte.  Hughes, still once considered by some as the greatest WW of all time, on the other hand is coming off a demolition from the aforementioned Pierre and was contemplating retiring from the game.  The GSP fight is a thorn in BJ’s side.  The match was pretty close and some say it had a questionable decision with the old Penn undertraining and unfocused.  The new Penn now wants to be considered the best in the world.  He, along with GSP, is considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and to solidify his position there above GSP would be to take him out of that picture while he is at the top.  In the UFC 84 post fight press conference, he admitted he didn't train as hard as he should have for their first fight and openly talked about wanting that match next.

So is BJ looking past his next title defense? 

Yes, he clearly is.  It was a problem he had earlier in his career, looking past opponents for upcoming fights.  He looked past GSP the first time and look where it got him.  Would that be a problem now? I don’t know, but it’s not the best idea for Penn.  He said it would be hard for him to get excited for his next fight against Huerta/Florian when the GSP fight is on the horizon.  Both Huerta and Florian are up and coming and have yet to make a huge name for themselves but are great fighters.  Either has a chance to beat BJ if his mind is not on the match and not focused on his immediate opponent.  Sean Sherk was looked at as an unbeatable beast before the positive test, and he is still considered the best challenge the lightweight division had to offer BJ.  When Penn beat him in a dominant fashion, it left a question of who could stop this new BJ Penn.  Although both Huerta and Florian are hungry for that title shot and would make an exciting match for BJ fans,  but BJ is still seen as head and shoulders above the entire division.  BJ wants to move on with his legacy after considering the LW division conquered.

But a Penn/Florian or a Penn/Huerta fight is still a dangerous fight for BJ.  Both are intelligent fighters, tough to finish and both are very tenacious.  A Penn loss to Florian/Huerta would be damaging to the UFC.  He is one of their biggest names and by losing it would seem like he is reverting back to his old self, talented but lazy, causing a drop in his popularity.  With Florian or Huerta as a title holder , while both able champions, would not be as great for the UFC when BJ Penn could be the greatest lightweight champion of all time.  It is in the UFC's best interest to keep BJ on the top of his game. 

For the UFC to keep BJ's interest in his second title defense against the winner of Huerta/Florian, one and/or both (the UFC and the winner) have to do everything they can to make the fight mean something to BJ.  They can promise him GSP if he successfully defends his title three times, or give him more money, or bring in Aoki or JZ.  Huerta/Florian can say he's fat, lazy, no dedication, cocky, that they will destroy him, be the first to KO him, that they will lick his blood, and spit it back at him, he has cooties, he is balding and that’s why he saves his head... anything to get him to fight.  The UFC HAS to get him to buy their plan of cleaning out the LW division.  It would bring in and keep more fans.  Love him or hate him, BJ always brings in viewers to fights. 

But from a marketing standpoint, A BJ Penn/GSP match in Honolulu, Hawaii would be HUGE!  MMA is immensely popular in Hawaii, it is not just the UFC.  The ICON and Elite XC shows always do well.  It seems like almost everyone trains, but everyone likes to fight.  They even have their own magazine dedicated to local fighters and events.  They might even make it a highschool sport (they made surfing a HS sport so why the hell not?).  For a Hawaiian to be headlining a show in his home state against another one of the biggest names and champion in the UFC would be a guaranteed sellout.  The current UFC attendance record would be easily shattered if the event was held at Aloha Stadium (current record of 21390 @ UFC 83).  The number of PPV buys would also be enormous just from the Penn GSP draw even with a weak undercard (even with Machida fight on this card, people will watch!).  It can be the biggest grudge matches of all time. 

-Davey

ps. I like Machida a lot but I had to make that little joke :-P