Controversial decisions are a part of sports. In various other realms we have seen questionable calls from referees lead to defeats and victories for those who may have landed otherwise. Still, controversial endings in combat sports can cost individuals wins, titles, and even possibly their employment. 2010 sparked the heavy debate on judging in Mixed Martial Arts and 2011 hasn’t been without its examples. UFC 127 was not without its moments and it seems as every event draws to a close the clamor for regularity in MMA judging continues to grow.
Nick Ring walked into the Octagon with an undefeated record as he faced off against DEEP middleweight champion Riki Fukuda. Fukuda brought the fight to Ring, taking him down multiple times and controlling the positioning throughout the fight. After 15 minutes Ring was unable to mount any sustainable amount of offense. However, the judges at cage side awarded the unanimous decision victory to Ring.
UFC President Dana White went as far as to take to his Twitter account to declare Fukuda the winner and even pay him his winner’s purse. However, the moral victory is never enough for a mixed martial artist.
This is yet another example of how judging has greatly affected the sport. Referees are even going as as far to tell fighters “Don’t leave it to the judges” during the events broadcast on live television. UFC personality Joe Rogan went on a full out attack on bad judges when Leonard Garcia was awarded a victory over Nam Pham at the UFC Ultimate Fighter Season 12 Finale. It’s almost as if when the fight goes to the judge’s scorecards, fans are bracing themselves for a bad result.
As the world’s leading MMA promotion, the UFC can play a pivotal role in “correcting” the “bad” judging that has affected many events and fighters. This means much more work than the constant verbal attacks that have come in recent months.
To begin, UFC has the credibility to start an education process for MMA judging. Use personalities such as Chuck Liddell, John McCarthy and even Royce Gracie to create a judging curriculum to educate the current crop of judges as to what they should be looking for during each contest. How to score effective striking, takedowns, and grappling would be the main points to stress during each “lesson.” This curriculum could then be passed around to athletic commissions to approve and distribute as necessary.
Next, the UFC could create an in-house review panel to review each of the decisions made by the referees at the end of their events. After said review, the UFC would release and make public the grades of each judge and judging team. These grades can then be used when assigning judges to future events. Those who consistently earn low scores could be required to take the educational courses to strengthen their abilities.
Finally, change the tone of public criticism. While numerous UFC officials are very vocal with their displeasure when a fighter gets a raw deal, the way they discuss that fact could be done a lot better. Offering suggestions on how to correct the problem would be much more productive in the long run, rather than saying fighter X was robbed in a Twitter post. The UFC is the largest organization in the mixed martial arts community and can carry a lot of weight in the movement to correct the judging problems.
