Mixed Martial Arts judging needs a bit of tweaking and revising

There’s an old adage in mixed martial arts “never leave a fight in the hands of the judges.”

Part of this is philosophical and encourages fighters to finish the fight with a knockout or a submission. The flip side to this is that a fighter may think they won the fight, but the judges see it a different way, resulting in a loss for them.

During UFC 208 last weekend, fans were a bit irked because of couple of fights that went to judges’ decisions, particularly in the co-main event where former middleweight champion Anderson Silva defeated Derrick Brunson.

Although some folks had Brunson winning on their scorecards, the judges — whose scores actually mattered — awarded the fight to Silva.

One of the more controversial aspects of MMA — besides the violence — is judging. Similar to boxing, MMA judges use the “10-point must system” — meaning they have to award 10 points to the fighter they felt won that round and give the other athlete nine points. If a judge feels both fighters won that round, they award 10 points to both competitors. Points can be deducted for penalties or in some cases if a fighter is knocked down.

There have been several fighters over the years where viewers thought an athlete won, only for the judges to give the decision to the other fighter. It’s gotten to the point where websites will publish the judges’ scorecards minutes after the fight happens.

A fighter who is on the wrong side of judges’ scorecards will lose on their record and no win bonus.

One issue when it comes to judging is everyone sees the fight differently. Unlike most fans on social media, I had Silva winning the first two rounds and gave him the fight. The couple I was sitting with, a couple of old high school friends, also gave Silva the match.

The criteria for judges scoring a round are also subjective. Judges will base a round on the following criteria: clean striking, effective grappling, gave control, aggression and defense.

I gave the first two rounds to Silva because I thought he was more aggressive with his striking, withstood Brunson’s own striking and had good takedown defense. Others scored the fight for Brunson because he landed some good combinations and took Silva down a couple of times later in the fight.

In an essay for Boxing Insider, boxing judge Barry Lindenman said judges may not accurately score a fight because of their inability to focus their attention on a full five-minute round, which resulted in them missing certain striking or takedowns during the round. For the Silva-Brunson fight, I probably missed some of those punches that Brunson landed.

One of the problems that some fans don’t understand is the UFC and other MMA promoters do not hire judges for their events. Like referees, judges are appointed by state athletic commissions.

You don’t even have to have a background in mixed martial arts to become a judge.

If I wanted to start judging MMA events, I just need to head down to the local Department of Licensing office, complete an application, pay the $65 fee and prove that I went through a training course.

Finding a judge’s training course requires a bit of research. Some state athletic commissions offer their own training. There are also organizations — one being the Elite MMA Referees and Judges — which provides training. Part of the training includes shadowing a judge an MMA event, judging fights and comparing scorecards.

Judging in mixed martial arts is not going away anytime soon and personally, I think it’s a necessary part of the sport. But I think some tweaking needs to be done on the matter. Perhaps the judging criteria for a fight can be better defined.

Another way to improve judging is encouraging people with MMA experience, particularly fighters and coaches to become judges themselves.

Who better to act as judges for an MMA contest than people who have had experience in the fight game?

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].